


euphoria (you are the cause of mine)

by jisxngie



Series: stray kiddos [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Fluff, Have fun lol, M/M, Romance, Slow Burn, and i have like 24 percent knowledge of figure skating, but uh ill try bc i rly wanted to write this !!!, first and foremost this is a figure skating au, hyunjin is seungmins idol and also rival in terms of competition, i guess this could be enemies to friends to lovers ??? uh, i just imagine that theyd swear with each other bc yknow, ill tag just in case it goes that way ksmsksm, jinyoung is their coach, jisung and seungmin are best friends, maybe hopefully lmao, seungmin is a savage in this ngl, so pray for me, teen and up for swearing, teens™, the rest i dont know yet lmao, this is a chaptered fic, which means i have no idea whether im gonna finish it or not, woojin is there for moral support
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-04-22 03:38:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 56,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14299944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisxngie/pseuds/jisxngie
Summary: the one where seungmin is a well known figure skater, hyunjin is the current junior worlds gold medallist, and somewhere along the road, seungmin falls in love.or, seungmin hates hyunjin. well, not really. oh, and jisung is a great friend.[ edit 10/12 ; euphoria now has a special chapter! ]





	1. nobody knows how i got here.

**Author's Note:**

> i am so sorry for that horrid ass title
> 
> edit: the title is slightly better but still pretty bad lmao  
> updAtE: this may get to like ten chapters or so and im already almost at 10k words in my google doc oh my

the snow falls heavily on the wide concrete walkway, layering it with white and hiding the brick red of the crossings between walkways. sunlight peeks through just slightly between grey clouds, though doing nothing to melt away the ice. it’s far too cold. snow crunches under black combat boots, leaving deep footprints in their wake. the smell of coffee wafts through the air, with people leaving and entering the warm cafes that line the street.

seungmin pulls his scarf tighter around his neck; it’s an expensive, blue, handmade one with gold trim he got as a gift from his mother for his thirteenth birthday.

it’s a thursday, seungmin’s day off from school, and he finds himself making his way to the diner his friend works at. his friend? han jisung, 15, same age as him, attending the same school. they also train together.

the little golden bell rings when he pushes the door open. it’s a decent sized diner, and when he pulls off his hood and face mask, the guy at the counter smiles at him.

“hi seungmin!” he greets softly, setting the cup he was cleaning down so he can walk up to the counter.  
“hey, felix. is jisung in today?” that’s a dumb question. jisung is always in on thursdays, from 8am to 12pm.  
“yeah, want me to go get him?”

seungmin nods, “hit me up with some breakfast and an iced americano while you’re at it, please?

felix smiles, bright and happy and making his freckled cheeks squish up against his eyes before he leaves for the back room to retrieve jisung.

seungmin seats himself in a booth near the back, right next to a window. he pulls his face mask back over his mouth and tugs his scarf off, grabbing his phone from the pocket of his hoodie and checking through his twitter.

he blinks twice when he gets a notification.

_**snapchat**  
from minnie #1_

when he opens the snap, it’s a blurry picture of someone at a table, but he squints his eyes to read the caption and almost gasps aloud at it.

_‘dude i’m in a mcdonalds with jeongin and i look across the room and it’s hwang fucking hyunjin’_

he screenshots it.

**me**  
d u d e  
what the hecc  
how are you that lucky i’m just trying to get my breakfast man  
also why are you in a mcdonalds lol

**minnie #1**  
i’m in a mcdonalds bc jeongin needed to pee and i’m nice  
hold on i’ll get a better picture

ah yes, hwang hyunjin. he’s the four time junior world champion gold medalist for figure skating, and also seungmin’s idol. seungmin has seen him at some competitions, but he’s never actually gotten to talk to him. not like he would ever even expect to talk to him, but, y’know, people can dream.

he’s knocked out of thought when another two messages pop up, one a photo, one a video.

**minnie #1**  
he’s  
really handsome  
not as handsome as me  
but y’know he’s really fuckin close man

seungmin snorts at the messages. he also thanks the waitress that comes and sets down his coffee and food, a plate of bacon and eggs with two pieces of toast. seungmin doesn’t recognise her, must be new. she looks at him with a smile, then an odd look as if she’s seen him somewhere before, then she walks off. he turns back to his phone, opening the photo.

it’s a clearer photo, for sure, and hyunjin is sitting across from another man with dirty blonde hair, sipping at a coffee. seungmin screenshots it, just as a keepsake. he opens the video, and watches intently as video-hyunjin runs a hand through his hair, laughing at the man across from him.

**me**  
we’ll talk at practice  
but for now i just want my goddamn food

minho sends four laughing emojis back, and seungmin switches his phone off.

seungmin’s almost finished with his food by the time jisung slides in the booth across from him, huddled warm in skinny jeans, an oversized hoodie and a jean jacket.

“how nice of you to join me.” seungmin smirks, and jisung nicks a piece of bacon from his plate, stuffing it in his mouth.  
“i worked jihyo’s early morning shift since she’s sick and i’ve been walking around all day taking orders and my feet are still sore from the time coach made me practice my quads over and over again. thank god boss let me off for the rest of today.”

seungmin’s kinda impressed jisung didn’t run out of breath there.

“not my problem you’re bad at them,” seungmin laughs instead, and jisung kicks him under the table.  
“hey, least i can control my spins—”  
“come on, that was _one_ time—”  
“yeah, you slammed into the wall so hard coach snorted—”  
“at least _i_ can handle a quad in the second half of my routine—”  
“shut _up_ —”

seungmin reaches over and stuffs his leftover piece of toast into jisung’s mouth to shut him up.

“minho saw hyunjin at mcdonalds earlier,” seungmin says to divert the conversation.  
“wait—” jisung chokes on the toast rather loudly. “hyunjin? as in four time junior worlds gold medalist _hwang_ hyunjin??”  
“yeah.” seungmin turns his phone to jisung and shows him the photo.  
“holy shit dude,” jisung breathes, taking another bite of toast. seungmin nods.

seungmin picks up his scarf and wraps it around his neck, sliding out of the booth.

“come on, we’d better go to get some practice before coach gets here.”  
“but my _feet_ —”  
“i’ll teach you how to properly land your quad lutz if you get up.”

seungmin has, frankly, never seen jisung move so fast.

“wait a second— why was minho at mcdonalds in the first place?”

 

 

when jisung watches seungmin on the ice, it’s all smooth movements and intricate details. nothing like the bickering, stubborn mess he usually is when he’s not so focussed on not falling on his ass.

“you should take up ice dancing,” jisung calls mindlessly across the rink, as seungmin perfectly lands a quad toe loop.  
“me? ice dancing? with a partner?” seungmin calls back, disbelief in his voice. “nah, man, have you seen how weak my arms are? i’d drop her on her ass.”  
“never said _you_ had to be the one lifting.” jisung pulls off his skate guards, stepping onto the rink as seungmin skids to an abrupt stop.  
“nah, think you should take it up with minho,” seungmin smirks, and jisung’s cheeks flush bright red, the brunette sputtering jumbled words at him.

“you two! early today, huh?”

both seungmin and jisung turn around, and their eyes brighten when they see their coach walking through the doorway, a slightly shorter brunette male following behind him.

“jinyoung! woojin!”

the duo make their way to the edge of the rink, leaning up against it as they watch their coach drop his bags on the bench nearby.

“why are you two so early? we’re usually the ones waiting for you,” woojin smiles, sitting down.  
“ah, seungmin was teaching me how to land my quads properly,” jisung hums. seungmin has always been better on the ice than him.  
“were you now? think you can pull a quad lutz during your free program?” jinyoung asks, checking his phone for the time.  
“i can _try_ , but don’t count on it.” jisung points finger guns, an unsure smile on his face.

seungmin steps off of the ice, slipping his skate guards back onto the blades and walking over to where woojin is sitting. “you should show us, dude,” seungmin encourages, and jinyoung nods.

jisung sighs, pushes himself off of the barrier around the rink. “fine, but don’t count on me landing it.”  
“don’t worry, i wasn’t.” seungmin snorts when jisung gives him the bird.

 

 

“tell me why after _two_ hours of you teaching him, he’s better at his quads than after _four_ sessions of training with me,” jinyoung whines, burying his face in his hands as jisung lands a slightly wobbly quad lutz.  
“i’m tough with him, but it’s a best friend kinda tough,” seungmin offers, his lips quirking up slightly, “like, if he stuffs up or misses a revolution, i go, ‘what the fuck, loser, i’m pretty sure my fucking grandma could do better than you at this’, and he just gets fired up.”

jinyoung groans. woojin laughs from his other side.

“how did i do?” jisung asks, out of breath as he skates up to the trio.  
“better than before, but still not good enough to shoot for gold,” jinyoung gently chastises, and jisung snorts.  
“do you really think that i’d be able to shoot for gold? i mean, seungmin has such nice choreography and presentation and he’s hella graceful and skilled on the ice but he still gets silver.”  
“i only get silver because in my world championships, i’m against hyunjin. almost every competition where hyunjin isn’t there, i get gold. you haven’t even made it to the world championships once.”  
“exactly what he’s saying!”

seungmin stretches his arms above his head, humming before reaching down and slipping off his skate guards to get back on the rink.

“one day, you’ll get there, ji,” seungmin muses, biting his nails unintentionally as he makes a very calm, quick lap of the rink, “but for now, enjoy being stuck in the nationals.”

“kim seungmin, i _swear_ to god!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi im a mess and think of au's at 1am im sorry
> 
> NOTE: this is set in the 2018-19 figure skating season and the jgp uwu
> 
> hmu on tumblr - jisxngie


	2. nobody cared for my dream.

minho comes to training a little late that day, jeongin following behind him, but nobody really minds.

seungmin sets his skates to the side, massaging the bottom of his foot as jisung over dramatically cries at how sore his own feet are. jinyoung is talking to someone on the phone, and woojin is quietly conversing with minho. jeongin’s sitting to seungmin’s left, peacefully tying the laces of his sneakers.

“my feet are actually crippled,” jisung gasps, cracking his toes and moving his ankle around, “seungmin, how in the _fuck_ are your feet and ankles still okay after all of the skating you’ve done?”  
“a lot of training, and stretching, and not landing with the force of a thousand dragons when you exit a jump.”  
“jeez, helpful,” jisung huffs, blowing a strand of faded purple hair out of his face.  
“wow, i’m actually trying to help you and you reject,” seungmin scoffs, “don’t ask me for advice again because bitch i might just tell you to jump off a cliff.”

jeongin wheezes.

“jokes on you, loser, i’m ready to do that 24/7.” jisung sticks his tongue out at seungmin and stands when he’s got his shoes on his feet. seungmin does the same back at him.

“okay, you two, enough bickering,” jinyoung chuckles, waiting as they all pick up their stuff.

it’s 1:54pm on a thursday, and seungmin dusts off his sweats before wrapping his scarf around his neck.

“either way,” jinyoung speaks, “seungmin, the first tournament in the junior grand prix goes from august 22nd to the 25th. it’s in slovakia this year. i’ll book all our tickets in three weeks.”  
“ah, yeah, okay,” seungmin hums, slinging his bag over his shoulder and picking up his skates. it’s the 17th of may, so he has at least three months worth of training that he can fit in.  
“make sure you aim for gold,” minho pipes up, “i don’t spend 3 to 4 hours a day thinking of and making you a strategically planned choreography for you to _not_ get gold.”

jisung speaks up then.

“minho, you saw hyunjin this morning, right?”

jinyoung furrows his brows, but looks at the brunette, who pulls out his phone and looks through his camera roll before he comes across the video he took. seungmin watches intently, rubbing his arm as he watches the male in the video laughing as if he’s heard the best joke in the world. seungmin’s not afraid to admit that hyunjin is actually pretty handsome.

“wow, so he was just _there_? without a mask on or anything?” woojin mumbles, and jeongin nods his head.  
“i like, had to do a double take,” minho stuffs his phone back in his pocket.  
“wait—” jinyoung starts. “why in the hell were you in mcdonalds? i thought you hated it?”  
“i was in there because jeongin needed to piss and i needed some sort of caffeine in my body,” minho huffs.  
“yah, caffeine is bad for you,” jisung scolds playfully, a pout on his lips. minho breathes out a laugh.

seungmin shakes his head with a chuckle. what a mess of a group of friends.

 

 

it’s a surprisingly sunny july afternoon when seungmin listens to the music he’ll be skating to. two seconds into it, he remembers just how _talented_ jinyoung is at choosing music. the melody is soft, stringed instruments ringing through the room, slowly building up, tension rising. then the hum of the melody drops and the tempo speeds up, and seungmin feels himself swaying his head to the song.

“i’m going to guess that you like it?” jinyoung asks, smiling as seungmin nods.  
“i can’t believe i have a musical genius as my coach,” seungmin hums.  
“brian had a friend of his compose it specially for your long program,” jinyoung pauses the music, watches as seungmin leans up against the rink wall.  
“oh, really?”  
“mhm, you’re lucky.”

seungmin turns away from jinyoung, to where minho is calmly making rounds around the rink, movements loose and effortless.

“minho, you should show seungmin what you’ve got for his long program,” jinyoung calls, as he restarts the music.

 _long program_ seungmin thinks to himself. there are thirteen mandatory elements to every long program. for mens, it’s rather difficult. ever since the introduction of quads into the judging system, it’d be a hefty sacrifice to not include a least one quad in one’s program. seungmin isn’t about to lose his fourth junior grand prix, so he hopes there’s a good amount of them. he leans up against the rink wall, and watches as minho skids to a stop in the center of the rink.

something about figure skating has always intrigued seungmin. he doesn’t know whether it’s the way the skaters’ bodies move to the music, or how they’re able to propel themselves at such a high speed into a jump.

(minho throws himself into a combination spin; the camel spin, followed by switching his footing to crouch into a sit spin. seungmin blinks.)

he guesses it’s both when he watches minho _almost_ perfectly land his signature combination jump; a quadruple lutz into a triple axel. minho’s free foot touches the ground for balance when he completes the quad and he has to take another step to continue the combination. seungmin never expects anyone to ever land it properly like he can. well, hyunjin probably could, and jisung might, with a _lot_ of training. it’s a difficult combination, for sure, and seungmin has never seen anyone else try it during competition.

he’s knocked out of his thoughts when minho lands another quad, a salchow this time, then he easily maneuvers into the step sequence before the last two jumps. a triple toe loop and a quadruple flip.

when minho finishes, his arms tucked right across his torso, seungmin huffs.

“first of all, i love you. second of all, you almost nailed my combination jump,” seungmin gapes, “that’s the first time i’ve seen someone do that.”  
“well, i’ve been skating far longer than you.”  
“uh, two years, bud.”  
“still more.”  
“you were born before me! you expect me to what, skate in my mom’s womb?”

jinyoung smiles, minho chokes on air.

“guys! you’re here!”

the three of them look to the door, where jisung is bursting in, skates on, hair drenched in sweat, phone in hand. seungmin furrows his brows.

“ji, you look like satan made you live under his armpit for four years. what the fuck is happening?” seungmin muses, crossing his arms over his chest.  
“i-it’s with hyunjin!”

minho slides his skate guards on when jinyoung hands them to him, and he walks over to jisung, who’s still trying to catch his breath. grabbing his phone, minho looks at the image that’s on the screen. seungmin walks over, soon followed by jinyoung. it’s a photo on hyunjin’s instagram of him standing in front of a training center, nothing too new or difficult to understand. seungmin’s eyes trail down to the caption, though, and he chokes on air.

_‘i think it’s time to up my game a little. so, i’ve decided that i’m going to be competing in the junior grand prix this year! super excited to see you all there!’_

“you’re fucking _kidding_ me,” seungmin sighs. the junior grand prix is something he’s well known for, and if hyunjin competes, it’s basically all over for him.  
“yeah, i choked in the middle of a fucking store when i saw it.” jisung stands up straight. “but what are we gonna do? if hyunjin’s competing in the jgp, then seungmin has a slim chance of winning gold.”  
“ _unless_ he can do a quad combination in the second half of his routine, or pull a quad axel, which i’m _pretty_ sure is impossible,” minho breathes.  
“fucking try me,” seungmin glares, biting his nails out of nervousness.  
“seriously, a quad axel or a quad combo in the second half of your routine is basically all we can do to give you a good shot,” jinyoung speaks then, looking at the picture again.

seungmin stands back, moving to sit down on one of the benches lining the rink. he leans his head in his hands, staring at the gold metal of his skates’ blades. he remembers when jinyoung gave the skates to him (“here, they’re mine but i’ll let you have them. i don’t think i’ll be skating anytime soon anyways.”), he remembers being so happy because growing up he used to watch jinyoung compete all the time, getting gold left, right and center.

“hey, don’t worry alright? it’s the grand prix, not four continents, not the junior worlds. this competition is _your_ forte. it’ll be fine.”

jinyoung rubs his back, right between his shoulder blades, and seungmin sighs. hyunjin is a four time junior worlds gold medalist, and seungmin has heard that he might be competing in the winter olympics sometime in the future. there is _no way_ seungmin’s going to win gold against him in the finals. all he _can_ do is try, and hope and pray that he does.

“if i land a quad axel, will it be enough to win against him?”  
“if you make to the final, and you have it mastered by then, then yes, it might just be enough.”  
“it’d also be the first time in history someone does it.”  
“true.”

jisung butts in then, trying to lighten the mood.

“are you sure you’re not nervous about competing because you have a huge crush on hyunjin?”

jisung is so lucky he can get his skate guards off and get himself halfway across the rink before seungmin has a chance of grabbing at the fabric of his hoodie.

 

 

“hey honey, how was practice today? did minho show you your new choreography?” seungmin’s mother calls when he shuts the front door and slips his sneakers off, making his way into the living room.  
“yeah, he did.” seungmin cringes at how dejected his voice sounds, and he feels small under his mom’s gaze when she peeks her head out from the kitchen.  
“seungie? what’s wrong? you sound so down.”  
“ah, you know hyunjin, right? four time gold medalist at junior worlds?”  
“oh, yes, i know him.”  
“he’s competing in the junior grand prix this year, against me.”

his mother seems to understand immediately, and as he sets his skates down on the table next to the shelf lined with all of his trophies, she comes and ushers him to sit on the couch.

“seungmin, sweetie, you know that it doesn’t always have to be gold this, gold that, right?”  
“yeah…”  
“so what does it matter? as long as you’re having fun out there on the ice, it’s okay! your father and i don’t care what you win as long as you’re having fun.”

seungmin wiggles his ankles, and decides to keep his socks on. his mother doesn’t need to see the slight, if not at all, bruising on his ankles from the number of times he’s failed his jumps.

“i guess, but the junior grand prix is my tournament, my thing, it’s the only one i feel any sort of calm in.”  
“seungie, hyunjin is another human, like you. do you think he got to where he is now because he gave up when someone beat him?”

seungmin knows his mom is right. he fiddles with the bottom of his hoodie.

“yeah, i guess. thanks, mom,” he smiles softly, standing, trying not to wince at the pain shooting from his toes all the way through to his pelvis.

he makes his way to his room, shutting and locking the door behind him before throwing himself on his bed and looking at the ceiling. pulling his phone from his back pocket, he switches it on and looks through his notifications.

_— message from **hhAN sO L o** (14)_  
_— **instagram:** new post from **h.xyunjins**_  
_— **snapchat:** from minnie #1 (2)_  
_— **instagram: v.itxaaa** has started an instagram live. join now!_  
_— message from **mother duck aka coach** (3)_  
_— **youtube:** felix lee uploaded a new video!_  
_— **twitter:** @jin_youngpark posted a new tweet!_

seungmin sighs and rolls onto his stomach, opening jisung’s texts. what could he possibly want?

 **hhAN sO L o**  
— seungie  
— seuuuunnggggie  
— seungminnniee  
— seungmin  
— jesus if ur dead im gonna die too  
— you know i love you right  
— oi scrub  
— loser  
— fine then  
— yknow how jinyoung booked our flight tickets to slovakiwhat thefuck  
— yeah uh  
— may or may not be the same flight as hyunjin  
— so  
— because i dont wanna have a life threatening situation happen to me like earlier im gonna leave it at that lol

seungmin buries his head in his pillow, whining so loudly his dog looks up from her place next to his desk. it’s like fate wants to tempt him at every possible moment of his life.

 **seungmess™**  
— youre fuckin kidding me  
— s i g h  
— i’ll just pretend he isn’t there  
— no biggie  
— i’m gonna kick his ass in slovakia mark my fucking words

seungmin opens his instagram before jisung has the chance to reply. it opens on a post of yongguk, kim yongguk, a figure skater seungmin recognises from china. he’s cradling both of his cats to his chest, and the photo looks so candid and aesthetic seungmin wonders who took it. he scrolls down further, past a meme or three, an ad, some of his friends’ posts, before he happens across a new post from hyunjin. it’s different from the one that jisung showed them at practice earlier.

it’s a photo of hyunjin and someone seungmin recognises as a girl named momo. she’s one of the best senior female figure skaters in the world, japanese, and she trains under the same coach as hyunjin. seungmin thinks she’s really pretty when she skates, always to something classical and slow. if seungmin were straight, she’d probably be the girl of his dreams. as it is, he is not. in the photos (seungmin now realises there’s six of them), hyunjin is smiling and laughing with her and seungmin wonders for a brief second if hyunjin is straight. he pushes the thought to the back of his mind.

_‘honestly, she’s the reason why i enjoy turning up to training. literally, be friends with her for like a day, it’ll be the greatest day of your life.’_

he wheezes at the last photo. it’s a photo of a blurry hyunjin mid-fall and momo is standing there doubling over with laughter. ah yes, hyunjin has never been a talent when it comes to walking on a surface that isn’t ice with his skates on. seungmin has seen him fall while trying to get to the kiss and cry once. he ended up choking on his water and jisung had laughed at him.

there’s a knock at his door, interrupting his laughing session, followed by his mother’s voice.

“seungie, sweetie, jisung’s here to see you!”

he gets up immediately, leaving his phone on his bed and going to unlock the door. as soon as he does, a whole metre and 69 centimetres of han jisung stumbles through the door, chest heaving.

“listen here sweatina, i ran here from my house with bruised ass feet so you’d better not fucking kick me out.”  
“my window is always open, bitch.”  
“at least hana loves me,” jisung pants, sitting down next to the puppy and letting her climb into his lap.

seungmin grabs his phone and sits down in his office chair at his desk, crossing his legs on the leather seat. “so, what brings you to my humble abode? and if it’s about my supposed _‘crush’_ on hyunjin then you’re dead to me, old man.”  
“i am _eight days_ older than you—”  
“still counts, buddy.”

jisung sighs exasperatedly, and seungmin begins scrolling through his instagram again, bringing his fingers to his mouth to gently bite at his nails.

“ _anyways_ , i’m here because i’m your best friend and you seemed down in the dumps after training.” jisung pulls his socks off and seungmin grimaces at the bruises littered across his pale skin.  
“ji, hyunjin competing just means that i’m most likely not going to win gold in any of the grand prix tournaments until the final for the first time.”  
“seung, there’s seven tournaments before the finals. if you don’t place first in at least one of them, then it’s technically kinda _un_ fair since hyunjin is new to the grand prix. he’s never actually done it before.”  
“no, it’s _fair_ because hyunjin is a better skater than i am. he’s been skating since he was four, i started when i was nine.”  
“yeah, and when we started training under jinyoung when we were thirteen, it took you _six months_ of learning before he literally said that you were at an _olympic level_ of skill. it took me a full year to land my first quad.”

seungmin remembers jinyoung saying that. he remembers the proud smile after his first competition when he placed first and brought home a gold medal to show his parents. he was thirteen.

seungmin continues looking through his instagram feed, mindlessly scrolling past some more posts of his friends. he stops upon yet another picture that hyunjin’s uploaded. this time it’s a picture of him hugging a boy seungmin doesn’t recognise. hyunjin’s hair is dyed midnight black, reflecting blue in the flash of the camera. seungmin thinks it’s prettier than his own chocolate brown hair. he might dye it soon.

_‘so i happened to run into a fanboy!! he was super sweet and nice and wow!! i hope i have more fanboys out there uwu’_

jisung peeks over at what seungmin is looking at, and snorts.

“yeah, hyunjin, you do. his name is kim seungm—”

seungmin pegs an empty deodorant can at the older boy’s shoulder.

“bitch _oW _—”__

____

seungmin guesses he’s not going to escape from this torture anytime soon.

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: is australian  
> also me: uses "mom" bc it looks better than "mum"
> 
> if you dont have a friendship like seungmin and jisung then are you really friends? lmAO just kidding
> 
> did i sneak my instagram in there as a sneaky self promo??? bitch i might have
> 
> but school is starting in like two days for me so uh if i dont update for like fifty years im s o r r y but school is going to be the death of me smh
> 
> tell me what you think so far in the comments !!!


	3. i get high off my lows, and stronger from the blows.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “oh, hey, you’re seungmin, right?”
> 
> all three of them snap their heads up when someone speaks awfully too close to them. seungmin chokes on air, jisung is flustered, and woojin is still snapchatting. standing there at their table, with a hand gently placed on the surface, is hyunjin, smiling almost knowingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a mess of a chapter and more-so just a filler than any plot but seungmin blushes a whOLE FUCKIN LOT

“seung, i don’t think angrily staring down a bottle of water is gonna help you in your current situation.”

seungmin looks across the table, where woojin is quietly going through his twitter and jisung has the stick of a popsicle hanging out of his mouth. they’re at the diner, seungmin and jisung’s books messily strewn across the table in a last minute attempt to get some studying in before they have their online exams. life’s much easier when you don’t have to haul your ass to every single class every day.

“ji, how long are you going to keep following minho around like a lost puppy?”

woojin lets out a bright laugh, dodging the threat of a slap from jisung.

“the thing is, at least i’ve got the balls to talk to him.”  
“that’s because he’s in our group of friends, dumbass.”  
“speaking of our group of friends, have either of you seen changbin recently?” woojin asks, chewing on the end of a fry.  
“i dunno, he’s probably off being successful in university or something.” seungmin shrugs. “but don’t take my word on that.”  
“yeah, don’t trust the one who’s dropping out at the end of the year,” jisung snickers, and seungmin flips him off.  
“technically, he’s _graduating early_ , since he’s got competitions and other stuff to deal with,” woojin pipes up again, “besides, he’s taking online classes anyways.”  
“ _yeah_ , ji.” seungmin sticks his tongue out at the brunette.

jisung pouts, sticks his tongue out at seungmin while he’s at it.

“at least minho doesn’t roast me 25/8,” jisung sighs. seungmin throws one of woojin’s fries at his head.  
“i only do it because it’s funny.”  
“my feelings don’t find it funny.”  
“well i do, so suck it up princess.” seungmin reaches over the table and ruffles jisung’s already messy hair.

it’s a windy saturday afternoon, sun poking through more and more with each passing day. the diner is busy, bustling with life as people pop in for a sandwich and a coffee on their lunch break. there are more people out and about than usual; parents with their kids, friends, coworkers and more. seungmin sips at his iced coffee, glasses slipping down his nose as he moves to close his books. he might just fluke the whole exam, like he almost always does.

jisung jumps when the door opens, the little golden bell ringing loud in the store. the person is wearing all black, ripped jeans and a leather jacket thrown over a hoodie. he’s wearing a face mask, but even from the angle seungmin is looking from, he recognises exactly who it is.

“hold on, is that hyunjin?” seungmin whisper-yells across the table, and jisung turns and looks just as the male pulls his face mask off and — yup, that’s hwang hyunjin, alright.  
“oh fuck, he’s taller than i thought he was,” jisung mutters, and woojin half chokes on his water.  
“he’s like 6 foot or something,” seungmin replies, watching as the raven haired male softly speaks his order to felix at the front counter. “i’m not that much shorter than him.”  
“yeah, and you’re a fucking giant compared to the two of us,” jisung hisses, motioning to himself and woojin.  
“i’m not _that_ tall!” seungmin whisper-yells again.

they halt the conversation when they hear hyunjin laughing at something felix is saying. jisung kicks seungmin in the shin, nodding in the figure skater’s direction with a tiny smirk on his face.

“now’s your chance, pretty boy. go talk to him.”  
“no, because that would be weird!”

their quiet argument goes on like this for a couple more seconds, and seungmin is pretty sure woojin is snapchatting their whisper argument.

“oh, hey, you’re seungmin, right?”

all three of them snap their heads up when someone speaks awfully too close to them. seungmin chokes on air, jisung is flustered, and woojin is still snapchatting. standing there at their table, with a hand gently placed on the surface, is hyunjin, smiling almost knowingly. seungmin stares, and when jisung steps on his toe rather harshly, he snaps out of his thoughts and stutters over his words.

“u-uh yeah, that would be me!” seungmin smiles and hyunjin smiles back. shit— he has a pretty smile.  
“cool, so you must be jisung?” hyunjin points at the boy and jisung’s mouth drops open.  
“you know who i am??”  
“of course, i’ve seen you in some of seungmin’s instagram posts. you’re a national level figure skater?”  
“uh, y-yep, that’s me.”

the air between them is a little awkward, and seungmin fiddles with his phone before hyunjin speaks up again.

“can i sit with you guys?” like an elementary school student.

“sure.” seungmin shifts over before he can stop himself, and hyunjin slides into the booth with the three of them.

“so, why are you back in korea? i heard you train with your coach in australia?” woojin asks, sipping his water again.  
“yeah, his name’s chan,” hyunjin hums, “i’m here because i’m visiting my mom and dad before i head off to slovakia for the grand prix.”  
“ah, seungmin’s competing in the grand prix too,” jisung pipes up.  
“you are?” hyunjin asks, and seungmin nods.  
“this year’s my fourth time,” seungmin muses, “i’m competing in slovakia and china.”  
“ah, i’m competing in slovakia and slovenia.”

seungmin nods, jisung gently toes his shin under the table, wagging his eyebrows. seungmin cocks his head and furrows his brows at him. jisung only seems to let a smirk pull at his lips, and it irks seungmin a little bit.

“say, hyunjin, how would you like to spend some ti—”

seungmin picks up two more of woojin’s fries and violently pegs them at jisung’s face. he can’t help the snicker that falls from his mouth when hyunjin snorts.

“hyunjin, do you see this disrespect?” jisung gapes, seungmin only shakes his head in obvious disagreement.  
“it’s not called disrespect, it’s called seven years of friendship.”  
“you two have been friends for seven years?” hyunjin asks, almost in disbelief.  
“yeah, and then woojin joined when we started training under jinyoung. about three years ago.” jisung replies.  
“oh, you train under park jinyoung?” hyunjin asks again, but seungmin is sure the boy’s seen him with jinyoung at competitions.  
“yes, he’s our coach,” seungmin sips his iced coffee as a waiter comes and sets down hyunjin’s burger and coffee.  
“i’ve heard.” hyunjin smiles. “i’ve always wanted to train under him, but i ended up with chan instead. but hey, i’m not complaining; chan is a good coach.”  
“ _obviously_. you’re a world champion.” woojin smiles, and hyunjin’s cheeks flush a pretty shade of pink.  
“ah, i’m not…” he mumbles, holding his hands to his cheeks. “b-but thank you…!”

seungmin smiles a tiny bit. so, hyunjin blushes easily with praise. that’s kinda cute.

“hyunjin, what do you study?” jisung asks then, glancing at seungmin’s medical textbook on the table.  
“ah, i’m taking online business classes so if i ever retire from figure skating, i can go work under my dad’s company.”

oh yeah, did seungmin ever mention that hyunjin is the son of the ceo to one of the biggest companies in korea?

“woah, cool.”  
“not _really_. what about you, seungmin?” hyunjin then asks, turning to the brown haired boy.  
“uh, i’m doing hospitality in high school and taking online medical classes,” seungmin taps the top of his books, and hyunjin’s mouth drops open slightly. “if i retire from skating i’m going to medical school.”  
“you attend a high school? like a real, physical, school campus?”  
“until the end of this year, yes. i’m graduating a year early so i can focus on figure skating and other little things more.”  
“oh, i dropped out in the middle of last year. too much going on, too much stress,” hyunjin giggles.

jisung sips his chamomile tea obnoxiously loud and sighs. “now th _at_ is how i aspire to be, except i’ve got to attend ‘til the end of next year.”  
“because you’re a good kid,” seungmin says, sarcasm laced in his voice.  
“i’m _older_ than you!”

seungmin smiles, and hyunjin joins him.

they talk for a couple of minutes more, and seungmin shouldn’t be surprised that hyunjin, under all of the hardy glares and confident smirks, is really just a huge ass dork that laughs at almost anything. yet, he is, and that surprises him even more. they’re in the middle of a conversation about the time seungmin slammed into a rink wall while practicing his biellmann spin when hyunjin’s phone goes off, a loud, ‘ding!’, alerting its presence.

“ah, it’s chan,” hyunjin muses, standing, “i’ve got to go, but i’ll see you guys soon?”  
“yeah, totally,” jisung gives him a fist bump and seungmin simply nods. woojin gives him a simple wave.

“i’m looking forward to seeing you in slovakia, seungmin,” hyunjin smiles, and he turns on his heels just quick enough to miss the angry flush of red making its way up seungmin’s neck.

“huh, whipped much?” jisung snickers as the front door of the diner closes behind hyunjin and the boy pulls his face mask back up.  
“ji, say another word and i’ll shove all of woojin’s fries down your throat.”  
“please don’t, i want them.”  
“exactly!”

seungmin rolls his eyes, pressing his cold hands against his cheeks, trying to cool them down. the competition is in two weeks, and seungmin isn’t sure he’s ready to face hyunjin again just yet. it’s strange, he thinks, how someone can very quickly go from being your idol, to being your enemy, to being able to get along with you. thinking nothing of it, he sighs, and starts up another conversation, this time about the (numerous) time(s) jisung fell while walking to the rink in his skates.

 

 

seungmin thinks highly of his sister, he really does. he loves her, but seeing her failing at mario kart against him, jeongin and felix is just sad.

“come on, seunghwa, it isn’t that hard!” seungmin is dying of laughter on the couch, and jeongin toes him in the side.  
“don’t be mean to your sister,” jeongin hums, and seunghwa brushes it off.  
“don’t worry innie, he’s always like this.” she smiles, leaving a banana peel for felix to hit when he comes along.  
“if jeongin wins best out of five rounds, seungmin has to hang out with hyunjin alone for a day,” felix snickers, and seungmin’s jaw drops.  
“jeongin if you love me, you’d let seunghwa win best out of five,” seungmin almost pleads as he swerves a green shell from felix.  
jeongin glances down at him, and he shrugs his shoulders. “sorry, i wanna see you in gay panic.”  
“you’re a little shit, wow,” seungmin gapes, “i thought i could trust you.”  
“i’m the youngest here, that would be a dumb decision to make,” jeongin snickers, throwing down his controller in victory as he speeds over the finish line way ahead of the other three.

“it _would_ be cute to see you hanging out with hyunjin for a day, though,” seunghwa hums, turning to look at seungmin from her place on the armchair.  
“betrayed by my own biological sister, wow.” seungmin stretches his arms above his head. “besides, we’re rivals.”  
“on the ice you are,” felix butts in, “but when you’re not on the ice, just as plain old kim seungmin and hwang hyunjin, you’re really friendly with each other.”  
“i have to hold myself back from punching him whenever he talks,” seungmin huffs.  
“uh huh, so explain the red on your cheeks all day in the diner when hyunjin sat next to you.” felix smirks, and seungmin sputters.

seunghwa and jeongin gasp and huddle closer to felix to get details. seungmin hides his face in his hands as felix recalls the details from earlier that day. note to self: don’t let handsome people sit at your table with felix literally six metres away at the front counter. he sits there silently, fiddling with the joysticks on his controller.

“and when he turned around and says— _said_ he was looking forward to seeing seungmin in slovakia, seungmin’s face just went bright red!”

seungmin whines, rolling over onto his side as his mother comes into the living room announcing that dinner’s ready.

he just _knows_ that seunghwa is going to find a way to get him and hyunjin to ‘hang out’ (he knows she’s going to set them up on a date), whether he likes it or not.

dinner goes pretty smoothly. nobody really talks except for when seungmin’s father asks how jeongin’s going in his first year of high school. the boy replies with a happy, ‘great!’, and seungmin wishes he had that much enthusiasm when he first graduated from middle school into high school. he remembers instantly making friends with a lot of the other boys in his class, and a lot of girls seemed to want to talk to him but were too scared to. he never blamed them. that was last year, when seungmin was getting international recognition for winning his third grand prix in a row, so he had a lot of people crowding him at lunches asking him about it.

“seungminnie, what about that boy that you’re apparently rivals with? oh, what was his name again…?” his father’s voice trails off.  
“hyunjin,” seungmin answers, sipping at his glass of water, “his name is hyunjin.”  
“that’s right,” his father sighs, “honestly, i don’t see why you two are rivals when you’ve got that poster of him up in your room.”  
“that’s from when i was thirteen, dad. he was my idol back then, now he’s my competition.”

seungmin steps on seunghwa’s foot under the table when she goes to speak with her lips tilted up in a smirk.

“well, i don’t mind what you bring home from your competition as long as you have fun,” his dad chuckles.  
“yes, dad.”

felix glances at him from his place next to jeongin, and he smiles as he stuffs a forkful of noodles into his mouth. that’s something seungmin’s learnt about felix. he eats more with silverware than chopsticks like seungmin does. probably something to do with him being from australia and not korea.

“seungmin, honey, why don’t you go spend time with him? might be a good experience, you never know,” his mother speaks then.  
“ugh, that’s more time out of the house than i need for training.” seungmin sets down his chopsticks, picking up his glass of water.

“seungie, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” seunghwa smirks, and jeongin actually chokes on his water.

seungmin hopes his cheeks aren’t going red but it’s a small chance seeing as felix is snickering into his water and his father is chuckling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i ever mention that this fic isnt beta read ??? because it isnt lol so if there are mistakes im sorry
> 
> pls leave comments n kudos bc i am a smol hooman that needs a stranger's input for validation ty


	4. so i keep on, keep on, keep on.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **australia:** do you think dogs are left handed or right handed i need this for research purposes  
>  **dame tu cosita guy:** they’re ambidextrous obviously lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its a baby chapter but it's mostly from hyunjin's point of view !!

hyunjin adjusts his training bag on his shoulder, eyes locked on his phone as he looks through his snapchat stories. the wind blows through his raven hair, pushing the strands out of his face every time it picks up.

_oh hEC C_

hyunjin blinks at the video on his screen. it’s on jinyoung’s account, even though it’s obviously not jinyoung filming because a) jinyoung is _in_ the video and b) jinyoung would not caption a video ‘oh hecc’. he squints his eyes a little, trying to see past the glare from the sun. it’s a video of seungmin on the rink, but he’s not doing anything particularly interesting except for shooting finger guns off to the side of the screen. at this point, hyunjin has stopped under the shade of a tree lining the road and he can see properly now.

seungmin unzips his jacket, smiling at something someone yells out of frame, then he pulls the fabric off of his shoulders, only leaving the tight fitting training shirt skaters usually wear underneath and holy _shit_ — he’s slim as fuck. hyunjin shouldn’t be surprised — he’s seen seungmin in tight fitting costumes at competitions before — but wow, he’s skinny _as_.

“and i look like a bloated pig after eating three potato chips.” he sighs, dragging a hand down his face.

his phone rings, and when he looks down to see who it is, it’s chan.

“hey,” hyunjin breathes, looking down the street.  
“ _hey, kiddo, you decided to not come to practice today_?” chan chuckles over the line.  
“oh, no, i was just looking around for a bit. i’m coming now.”  
“ _alright, buddy, see you soon_.”

it’s a sunny monday morning, and not as many people are out and about, probably because they’re all either at work or in school. hyunjin likes it when it’s not as busy, it gives him a breather from people for a while.

“seungmin still goes to school, and so does jisung,” he mumbles to himself, climbing up the stairs to the skating rink. “i wonder if they’re in today?”

pushing open the door to the complex, he greets the girl up the front counter with a small wave before heading straight to the changing rooms.

“ah, hyunjin, there you are!”

hyunjin turns, and chan is walking up to him, another boy trailing behind him.

“yo, i showed up, like i said,” hyunjin smiles. chan smiles back.  
“ah, hyunjin, this is jeongin,” chan introduces with a smile, “i’m looking after him for a friend today.”

hyunjin feels as if he’s seen him before. raven hair, fox like eyes, small in stature.

then he smiles, teeth showing and— oh yeah, hyunjin’s definitely seen him somewhere before.

“hey, you know jinyoung right? park jinyoung” he asks in english, and chan nudges him.  
“he doesn’t understand english very well.”  
“ah— right.”

hyunjin repeats himself in korean, and the boy brightens up, smiling and nodding.

“mhmm! he’s my friend’s coach.” oh god, he’s adorable—  
“ah, nice.”

jeongin smiles again, and hyunjin smiles back.

“he’s really cute,” hyunjin says to chan as he sits down on the bench to pull his sneakers off. hair prickles at the nape of his neck from the cold air in the room and his phone vibrates beside him from a message.  
“he is,” chan agrees, and jeongin tilts his head, asking what they’re talking about. “oh, nothing, kiddo.”

hyunjin makes his way to the rink, blinking surprisedly at the little kids loitering around the place. usually there’s no one around when he goes to train, but today there’s a couple of them.

“sorry,” chan says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, “nayeon couldn’t get the rink empty because parents would complain and kids would cry.”  
“that’s fine.” hyunjin waves him off with a smile and an easy shrug of his shoulders, before he leans down and pulls his skate guards off.

“i might as well not train today, too many kids.”  
“then how about you teach them?” jeongin asks out of the blue, watching as a little boy helps another little boy up off of the ice where he had fallen.  
“teach them?” hyunjin hums. “not a shabby idea.”  
“please don’t knock a kid over because you find it funny,” chan sighs, and hyunjin snorts.

“like _i_ would ever do that.”  
“uh, you have, it’s on video.”  
“shit, i have. oops.”

jeongin only smiles, chan shakes his head as hyunjin quickly makes his way over to a little girl about to fall despite holding onto the rink wall for balance.

“he’s a handful,” chan sighs, leaning up against the rink wall.  
“he’s not nearly as bad as seungmin and jisung when they’re together.”  
“seungmin and jisung? like kim seungmin and han jisung?”  
“yeah, they scream at each other a lot. jinyoung can’t handle them so he just leaves them be.”

jeongin pulls out his phone, opening one of his group chats and scrolling up to try and find a video. chan catches a glimpse of some text messages as jeongin waits for more of the older messages to load up.

**australia:** do you think dogs are left handed or right handed i need this for research purposes  
**dame tu cosita guy:** they’re ambidextrous obviously lol  
**kermit suicide:** what the fuck kind of question is that felix im  
**australia:** you’re asking /me/ that???  
**dame tu cosita guy:** LMAO SEUGNMIN JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION

—

**jeongdone:** felix give us some aussie banter i wanna die cmon  
**dame tu cosita guy:** why u wan die bby :(  
**jeongdone:** you  
**dame tu cosita guy:** im offended  
**kermit suicide:** roasted  
**dame tu cosita guy:** be gONE thO T  
**australia:** so do yall still want the aussie banter or no

jeongin makes an, ‘ah!’, sound when he finds the video, and he taps on it to load it up.

seungmin is wearing a muted pink sweater, too big on his skinny frame and tucked into the front of his black ripped jeans, and jisung is wearing an oversized black shirt tucked into faded blue denim jeans. they’re sitting at a table at a park chan doesn’t recognise, and it’s silent save for the sound of wind and the rush of water from the fountain behind them. whoever is filming zooms in comically close to jisung’s face, and seungmin picks up one of his chips and pegs it at jisung’s face and the video cuts off with a blurry frame and the older boy screaming.

“wow, he’s so kind.”

both chan and jeongin look up to see hyunjin there, leaning his chin in the palms of his hands and smiling. jeongin startles a little. hyunjin is so much better looking in person, jeongin thinks, but that isn’t important. hyunjin has a little girl clinging to his leg, and chan notices a group of teenage girls looking from across the rink at them, whispering to each other.

“hyunjin, your actual training session will be on thursday. for today you’re lucky.”  
“yeah, as if _you_ would be super harsh on me,” hyunjin snickers, and chan sighs. cocky brat.  
“jeongin, tell seungmin he’s got a date for saturday then,” chan says thoughtfully, rubbing his nonexistent stubble.  
“a-ah, n-no! don’t!”  
“aw, little jinnie is flustered.”  
“because you just brought seungmin up in the middle of a conversation like that! and i’m not little, i’m sixteen!”

chan thinks that any person on the earth can see that hyunjin’s taken a liking to seungmin. it’s just that seungmin’s shown no signs of wanting a new friendship or a relationship, much less a relationship with a guy.

jeongin’s phone dings loud with the alarm of a new message. speaking of the devil, it’s from seungmin.

**kermit suicide:** listen here you little shits  
**kermit suicide:** specifically you jisung  
**dame tu cosita guy:** i  
**kermit suicide:** physics is a subject that satan shat out his ass and im so fucking happy im graduating this year because this shit is the fucking worst  
**dame tu cosita guy:** i  
**dame tu cosita guy:** have never in my life  
**dame tu cosita guy:** seen seungmin so fucking mad  
**dame tu cosita guy:** its fucking scary yall even the teacher looks scared oh my g o d

jeongin smiles at the video that pops up afterwards. seungmin’s always hated physics.

 

 

“seungmin, your landings aren’t as good as usual. is there something wrong with your ankle?”

seungmin winces when he lands a triple toe loop, his ankle aching in the confines of his skates. it’s nothing too painful — he’s had worse — but when he lands with an unusual amount of pressure, it feels like it’s going to snap.

“ah, no, i don’t think so,” he lies smoothly, looking over at jinyoung, “it’s just a little bit sore today since i had track and field at school.”

jinyoung’s eyes only seem to narrow, and he calls for seungmin to step off of the rink. jisung is with him as well, looking at something on his phone. seungmin steps off, his legs shaky — they always are after he skates — as he slips his guards on and makes his way over to sit next to jisung on the bench with his stuff.

“give me your right foot.” jinyoung kneels down on one knee and seungmin cocks his head.  
“what?” he breathes, shifting his feet.

jinyoung grabs his ankle instead of answering, and undoes the laces of his skate. seungmin doesn’t move, letting him pull his skate off to expose his socked feet.

“wow, just like you to be wearing adidas socks,” jisung hums, and seungmin elbows him.  
“yeah, yeah, as if you don’t fucking wear them too, dipsh— ah— ow!”

when seungmin looks down, jinyoung is gently pressing his thumb and forefinger into the ball of his ankle, looking up at him to gauge his reaction.

“what the fuck?” seungmin sighs, letting jinyoung prod around more.  
“your ankle is pretty bruised, isn’t it?”

there’s no point in lying to jinyoung. “uh, yeah, kinda.”

jinyoung sighs, and somewhere in the pit of his stomach he feels as if he’s disappointed jinyoung. it isn’t a very good feeling. jinyoung stands, and steps back, looking at seungmin from head to toe. jisung opens his mouth to speak.

“we’re in slovakia next monday, is seungmin okay to compete?”

jinyoung seems to ponder it for a moment, and jisung rests a hand on seungmin’s knee. seungmin is _not_ about to lose his fourth grand prix.

“he should be okay, given he doesn’t practice every day for the next week.”  
“what? but—”  
“seungmin, the more pressure you put on your ankle, the worse it gets. just rest for a couple of days until the bruising goes down before you get back into training.”

jinyoung is a former senior world champion, it’d make sense for him to know what to do. seungmin sighs, but he nods.

jinyoung smiles gently. “it’s alright, bud. knowing you, you’ll smash everyone out of the park, sore ankle or not.”

“besides, it’d be a shame if you didn’t get to see hyunjin again,” jisung snickers, and seungmin doesn’t even have the energy to hit him.  
“y’know, i hope someday you choke,” seungmin says instead.  
“darling, i already have.” jisung smiles.

“ah, what to do with you boys?” jinyoung sighs.

“get jisung to olympic level skating?”  
“shut the fuck up, you crusty.”  
“nope, not gonna happen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it isnt a chapter written by vita if there isnt at least one roasting session between seungmin and jisung
> 
> comment what you think about this so far !!!


	5. all of the pains, taste of the sweat and dirt.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “hey, remember this, alright?” seungmin says then, making hyunjin raise an eyebrow as they put their guards back on.
> 
> “this is my fourth junior grand prix, and even if we’re both representing korea here, i’m _not_ about to lose against you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ; i decided to split chapter five into two parts because it was getting long and i really just wanted to get a chapter out on time lol

**2018 JGP — BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA**

seungmin wakes up at ass o’clock in the morning when his alarm goes off. he groans, turning over in bed to pick up his phone and shut off the annoyingly loud sound. when he looks around the room, his eyes widen when he sees that he’s not in his own bedroom. shooting up into a sitting position, he rubs at his eyes, looking around again until his eyes land on a pamphlet on the bedside table.

‘a tourist’s guide to bratislava, slovakia.’

seungmin sighs, remembering that he isn’t even in korea anymore. he throws the covers off of his legs and clambers out of bed, his movements still sluggish and ridden with sleep. he trudges into the bathroom connected to his room and looks at his phone as he does so. he has his final short program rehearsals at twenty past five and the opening ceremony begins at nine.

_— new message from mother duck aka coach_

seungmin opens it immediately.

 **mother duck aka coach**  
— are you ready for today?  
— i just saw hyunjin come in with his coach  
— i’m pretty sure his name is chan  
— either way, minho and woojin will come pick you and jisung up at ten past, so be ready by then  
— make sure to kick ass today, seung, i’m counting on you

seungmin smiles slightly at the messages, before looking at himself in the mirror of the bathroom. brown strands of hair stick up in every direction, and he combs through the mess as he picks up his toothbrush from where he left it the night before. his movements are groggy and slow, and he blames the lack of sleep he got on the plane all the way here. at least he didn’t see hyunjin, or did he? he can’t remember.

when seungmin is done in the bathroom, makeup hastily applied to hide the discolouration under his eyes from lack of sleep, he pulls his training clothes from his duffel bag and chucks them on, throwing his jacket overtop. the korean flag is embroidered on the right of his chest, reminding seungmin of the fact that while both he and hyunjin are representing korea at the grand prix, he’s still competition, and seungmin is _not_ about to place second for the first time in a junior grand prix tournament.

he picks up his hotel room keys and his bag, pulling on a random pair of sneakers and grabbing his skates off of the table next to the door. there’s a knock at his door just as he stuffs a muesli bar into his mouth, and when he goes and opens it, it’s woojin.

“hey, jinyoung told me to come get you. minho’s getting jisung.”  
“yeah, okay. let’s go,” seungmin smiles. woojin’s a good friend to have.

 

 

when they get inside the venue (jisung is yapping about something seungmin doesn’t quite understand), jinyoung is standing there talking to another coach seungmin recognises as hyunjin’s. he’s got platinum silver hair and dimples every time his lips quirk up into a laugh.

“coach,” seungmin calls, fiddling with the carefully woven bracelet secured around his wrist.  
“ah, seungmin!” jinyoung smiles a little, beckoning him over.

seungmin is slightly wobbly on his skates as he walks over to the two of them. _must be the lack of sleep_ he thinks to himself as he smiles and bows politely. _or, yknow, the bruising from last week_ , he reasons again.

“seungmin, this is chan,” jinyoung greets them, and chan bows, “he’s hyunjin’s coach.”  
“it’s nice to meet you,” chan breathes, his english vibrantly coloured with a heavy accent, “i heard you’re the three time junior grand prix gold medalist?”  
“ah, yes,” seungmin replies back, his own accent much lighter and very different, “i am.”

jinyoung has a tiny grin on his face.

“we’re hoping it’s his fourth this year,” he speaks then, “but since hyunjin is competing this year, we’re not so sur—”  
“i‘m going to get gold at the final.” seungmin’s voice is so firm it surprises all of them.

chan looks over at seungmin in surprise, and seungmin stares back. then chan smiles, his dimples showing.

“that’s the kind of spirit we want here.”

seungmin is caught off guard, to say the least. some of the other coaches he’s met have been strict and uptight and never even bothered to bat an eye when he goes to go congratulate their skaters for placing high. chan, though, is filled with positive energy and a kind smile.

“hey, coach park!”

the three of them turn and hyunjin is there, quickly moving across the almost empty rink to them.

“ah, hyunjin! you’ve met seungmin before, am i right?” chan hums, though he knows the answer already.

seungmin flushes very slightly under hyunjin’s gaze and he fiddles with the water bottle in his hands again as hyunjin smiles.

“yeah, we’ve seen each other quite a number of times at worlds,” hyunjin holds out his hand to the brunette, seungmin hesitantly grabs it. seungmin is glad he doesn’t bring up the time in the diner; now _that_ would be embarrassing.  
“yes, but this is the grand prix. so i wish you luck.”

seungmin’s tone is a little harsh but hyunjin only smiles and nods, accepting. seungmin slips off his skate guards and hands them to jinyoung before stepping onto the ice. his stomach growls quietly, and he wishes he had time to get something proper for breakfast.

“so, seungmin, you’re sixteen, right?”

seungmin turns when he gets halfway across the rink, and hyunjin is skating up to him, a kind smile on his face.

“fifteen, i’m sixteen in september,” he corrects, looking down at his feet for a second.  
“ah, i turned sixteen in march.”

seungmin nods, leaves him with a quick, ‘sorry, i need to focus for a bit. we can talk at the competition today’, and hyunjin smiles, understanding. seungmin finds that he’s more of a gentleman when you gets past the confident smirks and the show off-y side of him.

seungmin makes his rounds, getting used to the size of the rink, getting used to the feeling of the support bandages wrapped around his ankles (jisung had insisted that he needs them (he doesn’t)). he effortlessly propels himself into a camel spin, nothing too hard, before he switches his footing and crouches into a sit spin. when he exits his spin combination, as smooth as ever, he looks over at hyunjin as the boy violently digs his toe pick into the ice and vaults himself into a triple lutz.

“seungmin!”

a voice catches his attention and when he looks over, it’s renjun, huang renjun, a figure skater from china and also a close friend of his.

“oh, hey. long time no see!” seungmin quickly skates over and jumps up off of the rink, letting renjun wrap his arms around him in a friendly hug.  
“ah, i’ve been in america a lot recently, my coach prefers the rink over there.”  
“that’s dumb, the rinks in china and over there are like the exact same, aren’t they?”  
“exactly— wait a sec, is that hwang hyunjin?”

renjun points and seungmin turns just in time to see hyunjin’s combination spin; a death drop into a sit spin into a perfectly executed biellmann spin.

“yeah,” seungmin breathes, his gaze lingering a little while longer than he intends. “he’s competing this year, didn’t you hear?”  
“no, i didn’t,” renjun sounds surprised, then he sighs. “guess i’ll have to kiss silver goodbye.”  
“hey, you’re gonna be fine. you’re a good skater.”  
“ah, thank you.” renjun smiles, then he looks at seungmin again. “you’re not wearing your contacts.”  
“they get annoying and irritated when i skate sometimes, so i‘m not wearing them this season.”  
“ah, you still look nice.”

seungmin smiles, gets back onto the ice, “yeah, no. i look like chewed gum that’s been forcibly smushed into the ground.”

the rest of the rehearsals goes rather well, and seungmin smoothly runs through his short program. he almost fails a triple flip, ankle pulsing with dull pain in his skates, but he brushes it off. jinyoung softly applauds him when he steps off of the rink, letting him slip his jacket back on as hyunjin wobbles his way over to them.

“i see you’re still bad at walking with skates on,” seungmin snorts, zipping up his jacket.  
“i’m not talented in every aspect, you know.” hyunjin smiles, pulling his jacket off of his shoulders and handing it to chan.

hyunjin steps onto the ice to run through his own short program, and seungmin turns to jinyoung.

“you did pretty good,” jinyoung tells him softly. seungmin sighs, running a hand through straightened bangs.  
“ah, thanks.” seungmin smiles, wiping away the sweat running down the side of his face.

it didn’t go ex _actly_ as planned. he under rotated his quad loop and had to take an extra step to regain his balance. his quad lutz, triple axel combo was also slightly under rotated, bringing the quad lutz back to a triple. seungmin fiddles with the bottom of his jacket, the red material smooth under glove-covered fingers. the speakers in the rink announce hyunjin’s rehearsal, and seungmin takes a quick glance up to the boy in the center of the rink. jinyoung says something to him but he isn’t listening, too caught up in how relaxed hyunjin is as his music begins playing.

whenever seungmin watches hyunjin, he remembers exactly why the thirteen year old seungmin admired the other so much. the boy is relaxed, arms loose and movements free like he’s not skating to a specific choreography. it makes seungmin wonder if his own movements are even close to being as calm and relaxed. he looks down when his phone vibrates in his jacket pocket. it’s felix.

 **australia:** hi hello jinyoung sent me a snap of your routine  
**australia:** it looks super nice kdndkn but maybe dont take it from me since i know like  
**australia:** 2 things  
**australia:** about figure skating

seungmin smiles. felix always knows how to cheer people up.

 **kermit suicide:** i’ll educate you when i come back

seungmin snaps out of his thoughts when chan gives a small, ‘whoop!’, when hyunjin lands a quadruple lutz and goes straight into his step sequence. hyunjin seems to catch his gaze when he’s gliding back, and seungmin knows that he’s about to do an axel. it’s just something he’s picked up about the entry to the jump. hyunjin, as expected, lands it perfectly, and it’s only a mere few seconds later when he stops abruptly and the music comes to a close. 

seungmin’s lips are drawn into a pout, and he wishes he could be as good, as graceful as hyunjin is. he’s completely silent, staring at his skates, until—

he squeaks, high pitched and unmanly, when someone harshly slaps their hands over his shoulders.

“hey, dumb astronaut, how’s rehearsals?” it’s jisung’s voice, loud and clear and piercing in seungmin’s right ear.  
“uh, good,” seungmin rolls his eyes, but there’s a smile tugging at his lips, “but aren’t you not supposed to be here? you’re not competing.”  
“if i have to break rules for my best friend, i break rules for my best friend,” jisung smiles, and his cheeks seem to squish up the more he does.  
“awh, look who still has the chub on his cheeks,” seungmin coos, squishing jisung’s cheeks between his gloved fingers.  
“yah, stop being so overly affectionate.” jisung is laughing, his voice breaking every time seungmin moves his fingers. “it doesn’t suit your ‘i hate everything and everyone here’ facade.”

seungmin shoves jisung, laughing with the boy.

“no but really, i just wanted dirt on hyunjin,” jisung whispers as hyunjin takes a bow to each side of the slowly filling stadium. seungmin raises an eyebrow.

then, at the very top of jisung’s lungs.

“hyunjin!”

the raven haired male turns at the sound of his name, and smiles when he sees jisung waving him over. seungmin steps on jisung’s toe with his skate and the older boy hits him a little too close to his crotch.

“hey, you’re… jisung!” hyunjin hums, leaning up against the rink wall.  
“yeah! and you’ve met seungmin before, i know that.”  
“yes, yes, i have.” hyunjin smiles right at seungmin and the brunette automatically looks over at jisung, heat rising up his neck. “he’s quite the character. very feisty.”  
“yeah, that’s just how he is.” jisung slings an arm around seungmin’s shoulders. “he’s a handful to have as a friend.”  
“ex _cuse_ me?”  
“well, i’ve got two hands,” hyunjin smirks, before bursting out into giggles.

jisung chokes on air at how smooth the line is before he snickers. seungmin sighs, his eyes narrowed at jisung.

“jisung’s lying, hyunjin. it’s him who’s the handful.”  
“y’know—” jisung smirks. “how about i tell him about the time you were showing your sister the biellmann spin on your thirteenth birthday—”  
“don’t you dare,” seungmin threatens in english, “don’t you fucking dare, han jisung, or i swear to god.”

jisung doubles over with laughter, and hyunjin giggles alongside him. seungmin hopes he doesn’t understand english (it’s a slim chance, seeing as seungmin knows he trains with chan in australia most of the time).

seungmin is _definitely_ going to kick their asses.

 

 

_“representing korea in the men's singles—”_

there’s a lot of commotion happening backstage. seungmin is having his makeup touched up by minho, and he glances over to hyunjin, who’s laughing at something chan is saying. seungmin flushes slightly when their eyes meet, and minho quietly jokes that he needs to use more of his cushion to cover seungmin’s blush. seungmin slaps him on the arm, jinyoung smiles gently at them.

_“hyunjin hwang.”_

the crowd roars with cheers, and hyunjin is smiling and greeting the cameras as he (slowly) makes his way to the rink. seungmin watches quietly, and jisung walks up next to him.

“so, you’re against hyunjin once again.” jisung grins almost mischievously. “either way, if you see a banner that says, ‘pop off, loser’, with three exclamation marks somewhere in the crowd, it’s me and woojin.”

seungmin snorts (he’s been doing that a lot recently, felix is a bad influence).

“oh, and felix, changbin and jeongin are watching from back home, so don’t fuck up!” jisung giggles.  
“trust me, i won’t,” seungmin winks.

_“seungmin kim.”_

seungmin can’t help the smile tugging at his lips when he bounds energetically up the stairs (he’s pretty sure the extra two shots of espresso in his coffee are the only thing keeping him fully awake at this point), waving at the cameras focussing on him as he slips his skate guards off and leaves them on the padded edge of the rink wall. everyone in the stadium is screaming, cheering for him and it’s easily the loudest applause of the day by far. when he looks across the rink, hyunjin’s mouth is dropped open slightly in surprise, and seungmin smiles back at him, making the fans holler even louder as he makes his way to the center, past the other skaters. when he bows, it’s with his right arm crossed over his chest to his left shoulder, and he goes a little past ninety degrees to greet each side of the arena.

when he comes to a stop on the left of hyunjin, he smiles, almost smug, but not quite.

“people _love_ you here, it’s crazy,” hyunjin whispers.  
“mhmm, because i’m a three time gold medalist in the jgp,” seungmin whispers back, as the whole team — pair skaters, ice dancers, females’ singles, mens’ singles — takes a huge bow to the audience.  
“that’s crazy,” hyunjin says, as they make their way back to the edge of the rink.  
“not really, you’re a four time gold medalist at junior worlds.”

hyunjin smiles at that.

“hey, remember this, alright?” seungmin says then, making hyunjin raise an eyebrow as they put their guards back on.

“this is my fourth junior grand prix, and even if we’re both representing korea here, i’m _not_ about to lose against you.”

seungmin turns on his heels (skates?) before hyunjin has a chance to reply and makes his way back down the stairs to backstage, where jinyoung is smiling and already holding his hand out for a high five. seungmin grants him the gesture easily, and jisung is all of a sudden bounding up to him happily.

“remind me why you’re here again?” seungmin ruffles jisung’s purple and pink streaked hair as the shorter boy wraps his arms around his torso.  
“moral support,” he answers simply, “and the fact that you can’t live without me. also i kinda forced security to let me through because i’m a figure skater and i deserve to see my best friend killing the stage.”

seungmin sighs, but nods either way. jisung beams.

 

 

seungmin has, quite frankly, never been so tired in his fifteen — almost sixteen — years of life.

his feet are numb, and he can’t quite see properly, vision swimming. he’s panting heavily, an arm draped over his eyes as the audience applauds him heartily. when he stands, he smiles tiredly, waving to the fans. he bows, fancily and gracefully, despite the heaviness in his limbs. when he steps off the ice, he almost collapses into jinyoung’s arms. jinyoung hugs him tightly, and he slips his guards on while jinyoung praises him.

“that quad lutz, triple axel combination was amazingly clean, i’m proud.” jinyoung rubs his back, handing seungmin his team jacket and letting him slip it on overtop the fancy, jewelled silk dress shirt he’s wearing.  
“th-thanks,” seungmin gasps, managing a smile, “but it’s only the short program, my free skate is on friday.”  
“yeah, i guess,” jinyoung hums, “but come on, we’d better get to the kiss and cry, see what your scores are.”

seungmin nods, and slowly follows after jinyoung, wobbling slightly on his skates.

ah, yes, the kiss and cry. the place he’s able to rest in anticipation for his program results. sweat clings to his forehead, to his eyelashes and to the tips of his chocolate brown hair. he doesn’t bother with wiping it off, too much hassle to deal with sweat in his eyes. he hugs the little stuffie he always brings to competitions to his chest and smiles a little when jinyoung rubs his knee comfortingly. 

_“the scores for seungmin kim.”_

he looks up at the display, smiling and waving slightly to the camera filming him.

 **technical element score**  
47.05

 **program element score**  
40.23

 **deductions**  
0.00

 **total score**  
87.28

_“total score of 87.28. seungmin kim is now in first place.”_

seungmin sighs in relief, and jinyoung shakes his shoulders. he’s gotten higher, for sure, but he blames it on his fatigue.

“you did great. i’m happy with the result, considering the fact that your ankle is still a little bruised and you’ve been living on a black coffee all day.” seungmin quietly chuckles at that, and stands, holding jinyoung’s shoulders for balance as he waves to the crowd and politely bows. they all seem to scream louder than before, and seungmin blows a little kiss. he hears the shrill voice of a girl screeching his name, and he giggles. the crowd goes wild at that. seungmin is happy.

hyunjin, on the other hand, can’t stop his leg from shaking. his mind is ridden with anxiety. sure, he’s a four-time world champion, but has his anxiety lessened through the years? he doesn’t think so. seungmin is almost glowing, a happy aura radiating from his smile, and hyunjin watches as jinyoung ruffles his hair and praises him.

“hyunjin, you’re the final skater for today,” chan whispers to him under all of the cheering, “make sure you give it everything you’ve got.”

hyunjin nods, still bouncing his leg up and down.

when seungmin goes backstage to quickly have a bathroom break while hyunjin is getting ready, he runs into jisung yet again.

“dude, you fucking killed it!” jisung exclaims, giving him a fistbump.  
“did i? i only got like 87 points.” seungmin rubs the back of his neck nervously. “and besides, hyunjin is probably going to beat the rest of us into the ground.”  
“that’s still good! and, uh, don’t worry, dude.” jisung smiles at him again. “you landed all of your jumps perfectly and nailed your spins. i’m sure no one can beat your score.”

seungmin smiles. “wow, i guess you can be a good, supportive friend after all.”

jisung slaps him on the arm.

 

 

seungmin sits down backstage with jinyoung and jisung, watching hyunjin on the big display on the wall. renjun is standing beside them, talking to jae, a retired figure skater from argentina. his lips are drawn into a straight line, closely watching every little detail in hyunjin’s routine.

he underrotates a quad flip, has to take an extra step. one point deducted.

seungmin’s mouth drops open very slightly, and jae says, very loudly from the side, “did hwang hyunjin just _underrotate_ a jump?”

seungmin keeps watching, caught up in how the older boy’s eyebrows are furrowed in concentration as he propels himself into a death drop into a sit spin. the fault doesn’t seem to bother him at all, but seungmin is sure he’s eating away at himself for it. it’s not uncommon for skaters to do so. there’s loud cheering from the audience when hyunjin lands his quad salchow. seungmin isn’t sure exactly when it finishes, distracted by jisung talking about something, but when he looks back at the screen, hyunjin is bowing to each side of the stadium, chest heaving with the effort of breathing.

hyunjin steps off the rink, nodding when chan asks him something seungmin can’t hear over the thundering applause. they move to the kiss and cry, where hyunjin cradles a ryan stuffie to his body and waves to the camera, smiling brightly. seungmin chokes on his water, but he blames it on jisung bumping him.

“you did good, bud,” chan says to him, “i’m happy with that routine.”  
“ah, i messed up the quad flip,” hyunjin pants, looking down at his skates.  
“that’s alright. at least you made it a triple.”

seungmin watches hyunjin’s lips tilt up into a gentle smile.

_“the scores for hyunjin hwang.”_

hyunjin takes a deep breath, fiddling with the cuffs of his jewelled lace top.

 **technical element score**  
45.81

 **program element score**  
44.35

 **deductions**  
1.00

 **total score**  
89.16

_“total score of 89.16. hyunjin hwang is now in first place.”_

seungmin watches as hyunjin’s shoulders relax, and he leans back into the cushioned seat as chan applauds him. everyone in the audience is screaming, cheering for him, and seungmin sighs.

“hey, you alright?” jinyoung asks, a small smile on his face.  
“told you he’d beat me,” seungmin whines.  
“this is only the short program,” jisung points out, “and if you’re known for anything, you’re known for your stamina in the long program. so you could fit another quad in the second half for extra brownie points.”  
“i _could_ , but i still don’t think that i’d be able to beat him, even when our program scores are combined to get our overall score.”

jisung squeezes his knee, and smiles. “you’re seungmin kim, and this is the grand prix. i know that you can win, you’ve just got to go off in your free.”

when hyunjin comes backstage, everyone applauds him, giving him compliments as he passes by.

“ah, seungmin!”

seungmin turns away from his conversation with jae and renjun when he hears his name called, and hyunjin is walking towards him, legs shaky under him.

“excuse me for a sec,” seungmin smiles apologetically, bowing quickly before he turns back and walks over to hyunjin.

“hi,” he greets, fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket.  
“hello,” hyunjin says back, still hugging the ryan stuffie to his body.  
“your program was amazing,” seungmin says softly, and though he doesn’t want to admit it, he’s not lying,  
“oh, thank you.” hyunjin bows his head very quickly. “yours was super awesome too, i still don’t know how you manage that jump combination.”  
“a lot of practice, and bruised ankles.”

hyunjin smiles at him, bright and unbashed and seungmin hopes to god the foundation on his face can hide away the blush creeping across his cheeks.

“anyways, i’ve got to get back to chan. i’ll see you on friday?” hyunjin says it like it’s a question.

“yeah, of course. good luck with your free skate.” seungmin smiles softly, his voice low so only hyunjin can hear.

hyunjin smiles again, and when he turns his head and scratches the side of his face, seungmin can see the hint of a red flush running up his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the free skate/long program will be in chapter 6 dont worry !!!
> 
> also this is completely off topic but everyday by winner is a megabop wow
> 
> thank you to ash (@doraehan) for writing a little bit for me bc my brain was having a breakdown kdnfkfm
> 
> what do you think about the fic so far ??? comments and kudos are appreciated !!!


	6. we all live for the day they'll be screaming our names.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **kermit suicide:** jisung i swear to fucking god stop kicking my shin and wagging your eyebrows ndnsnak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this all in one day and it's unedited so if there are mistakes, im sorry lmAO

seungmin wakes up the next day with heavy limbs and silk woven blankets twisted around his body. the tv across from his bed is turned on, a news show that he can’t really understand playing softly in the room. scratching his bed head, he sits up and looks down at his phone. seungmin picks it up, unlocking it and groggily going through his notifications.

_— **[instagram]** h.xyunjins: good morning! i just wanted to know if it was good with you to come for breakfast with me and some…_

he opens the notification and rubs his eyes, brain too slow to comprehend that hyunjin is asking him to breakfast.

 **h.xyunjins**  
— good morning! i just wanted to know if it was good with you to come for breakfast with me and some other skaters?  
— you can bring your friends if you want, we won’t mind!  
— if it’s a yes, meet us at urban space at 9:30 :)

seungmin thinks that that’s the equivalent of an alarm clock. he suddenly feels more awake.

 **seungmin_kim**  
— hey  
— yeah i’d be down, let me just ask around to see who wants to come

seungmin pulls up his contacts, tapping on jisung’s name and hitting ‘call’. jisung picks up almost right away, he always does.

 _“yo, what’s up?”_  
“do you wanna get breakfast at urban space? hyunjin said i could bring friends.”  
 _“wait— hyunjin asked you to go to breakfast with him?”_  
“yeah,” seungmin breathes, checking the time on the digital clock next to the bed. 7:04am. “he’s bringing some other skaters as well.”  
 _“so this is basically just a big figure skater gathering?”_  
“minus woojin, yeah.”  
 _“woojin isn’t coming?”_  
“no, i meant woojin isn’t a figure skater, you fucking walnut.”  
 _“oooohhhh.”_

seungmin sighs.

 _“anyways, sure. i’ll tell minho and woojin.”_  
“‘kay, see ya.”

seungmin hangs up, dropping his hand back into his lap and yawning. he’s never been a morning person.

 

 

it’s 9:15 when seungmin leaves his hotel room. the halls are still rather quiet and he slowly makes his way down to jisung and minho’s room. he’s looking through his instagram, past a post of felix and changbin, a meme or two, and a couple of ads.

“seungie.”

seungmin looks up and scoffs when he sees jisung standing down the hall. he’s dressed head to toe in black, minus the ripped jean jacket thrown over his shoulders.

“look who decided to dress up,” seungmin says, stuffing his phone into his back pocket.  
“like you’re one to talk.” jisung hits him playfully on the arm. “you’re wearing the outfit i got you for your birthday last year. that shit was expensive, dude.”

seungmin giggles, fiddling with the cuffs of his hoodie.

“ _anyways_ , how’s your little crush on minho?” seungmin teases, and holds back a laugh when jisung goes red.  
“i-it isn’t a crush! and it isn’t like you’re much better with hyunjin!”  
“ _sure_.” seungmin nods.

“—okay, kids, it’s time to stop.”

they both turn towards the end of the hall, where woojin is locking his door behind him.

“woojin, jisung has a crush on minho, right?”  
“woojin, seungmin likes hyunjin, right?”

they glare at each other, and woojin laughs.

when minho comes out of his room, confused as to why seungmin and jisung are rather aggressively whisper arguing about something, woojin tells him not to worry. 

 

 

the cafe is rather spacious, interior warm and inviting and as seungmin pulls his mask down from over his mouth, he catches the gaze of a teenage girl who seems to flush and begin to excitedly hit her friend on the arm.

hyunjin is sitting up the back of the cafe, talking with three other people at the table. seungmin feels jisung tugging at his sleeve.

when he catches hyunjin’s gaze, the raven haired boy straightens up and smiles at him. shit— seungmin forgot how pretty his smile is.

“hey, nice of you guys to join us.”

hyunjin is sitting at the table with chan, renjun, and someone seungmin recognises as mark lee, a figure skater from canada. seungmin seats himself between hyunjin and renjun, and woojin, minho and jisung all sit in the other available seats.

seungmin sees jisung flash him a smirk from across the table, and seungmin mouths a, ‘you’d better not, han jisung, or i swear to god’, at him.

“oh, you’re seungmin, right?” mark asks across the table, and seungmin nods. mark smiles. “your short program was awesome, jinyoung must know a lot.”

seungmin ignores the slight heat running across his cheeks, smiling and mumbling a soft, ‘thank you’.

the air is comforting, warm and they all fall into a peaceful conversation easily. jisung is in the middle of chan and minho, occasionally toeing seungmin in the shin and wagging his eyebrows. seungmin sends him a message in their group chat.

 **kermit suicide:** jisung i swear to fucking god stop kicking my shin and wagging your eyebrows ndnsnak

jisung snorts, and minho glances over to the younger boy's phone.

“seungmin, are you alright?” hyunjin asks out of the blue, and it startles seungmin a little bit.  
“oh, uh, yeah, i’m fine. what's up?”  
“you're death glaring jisung.”  
“he always does that,” woojin speaks up, leaning his chin in the palm of his hand.

seungmin looks over at woojin before casting his gaze across the table to jisung.

from his peripheral vision, seungmin can see chan staring and blinking almost in awe at woojin, his mouth dropped open very slightly. seungmin smiles softly, brushing a strand of his hair out of his face as a waitress comes to the table to take their orders.

seungmin may be wrong, but he thinks that he might be witnessing something exciting.

“seungmin, what do you want? it’s on me,” hyunjin whispers to him, and seungmin gapes.  
“ah, i can pay for myse—”  
“nope, not gonna happen. so, what do you want?”

seungmin thinks this is too cliche to be happening. hyunjin is offering to pay for him despite their unspoken rivalry.

“uh… do they have pancakes…? i want something sweet,” seungmin murmurs, fiddling with his phone as he glances down at the menu.

he sees, from the corner of his eye, jisung silently cooing and holding his hands over his heart like a proud parent.

hyunjin smiles down at him, and nods. “cute.”

seungmin pretends that the heat rising up his neck is nonexistent.

 

 

seungmin yawns when he sits down on a bench backstage, leaning his chin in the palms of his hands. he taps his skates against the tiled floor, humming as he watches mark on the ice.

“seungmin, hey.”

it's hyunjin, huddled warm in his team jacket as he waddles over to the boy.

“oh, hey.” seungmin straightens up. “you ready for the free today?”  
“of course,” hyunjin hums, “i have to be, since i’m competing against you.”  
“oh, shut _up_.”

hyunjin giggles, stuffing his hands into his pockets and swaying on his skates.

“you think you’re gonna win?” seungmin asks, getting up.  
“hope so. but then again—” hyunjin elbows him gently. “—i’m against you.”

seungmin rolls his eyes, and turns to go and find jinyoung. hyunjin follows after him like a lost sheep.

 

 

seungmin thinks he should be used to the cheering when he emerges from backstage with jinyoung, but when he hears the crowd screeching his name he can’t help the bright smile tugging at his lips. jinyoung taps him on the shoulder and leans in to his ear.

“you’re going to do great, i just know it.” and seungmin smiles at the words, nodding.

he unzips his jacket as a cameraman walks up to him, filming every move. the crowd is relatively quiet, leaving him to his own thoughts. when he slips his skate guards off and steps onto the rink, jinyoung rubs his fingers over his knuckles.

“kill the free, bud. show ‘em everything you’ve got.”

seungmin nods, understanding, and he’s off.

the free program should be hard, should be tough and tiring, but to seungmin it’s like any other routine. the rush of adrenaline right before a jump, followed by the strung out tension as he digs his toe pick into the ice.

he lands a triple flip. the crowd cheers.

seungmin only very vaguely sees what’s around him. everything is a blur of colours, reds mixing with blues, whites mixing with blacks. the dull ache in his ankle is back, but he brushes it off as he moves into his step sequence. sometimes, he chimes in just in time to hear the cheering of his name after he lands a jump, and it makes his lips tilt up just the slightest.

seungmin loves to skate (if that isn’t obvious). he’s loved it ever since his parents first put the winter olympics on when he was a little boy. he had watched jinyoung’s free program, and then, shortly following, chan’s. he knows they’re good skaters, he knows that just like he and hyunjin, they’d been rivals too.

seungmin holds his breath as he nears his combination jump. the string quartet hums low in the background, spiking just the tiniest bit in seungmin’s ears as he cleanly lands the quadruple lutz. cheering ensues, and he doesn’t leave himself even a second before he’s bringing his right foot forward and flying into his triple axel.

when he lands, his torso is just the slightest bit too close to the ice, but he lands it clean nonetheless. it feels good to let out the breath he’d been holding.

his free skate only lasts for around fifteen seconds more, but it feels way shorter than that. seungmin figures it’s just the actual version of ‘time flies when you’re having fun’.

the music stops, he sheds a small bit of ice off of the rink when he skids (hah) to a stop in the center of the rink.

seungmin feels his chest heaving with the effort of breathing, and when his vision refocuses on the world around him, he sees jinyoung standing at the edge of the rink, clapping and smiling at him. the end of a program always feels surreal to him, especially as he’s bowing to each side of the stadium, especially when he gets back to the edge of the rink, and jinyoung is there to pat him on the back and tell him, ‘well done’.

“you did great, bud,” jinyoung whispers to him, a small smile on his face, “i’m sure you’ll win this tournament.”  
“i-i think i underrotated my salchow,” seungmin stutters, sweat rolling down the sides of his face and dripping from off of his chin.  
“you didn’t, i promise. don’t get caught up in things that didn’t happen.”

seungmin’s legs are extremely shaky when he follows closely behind jinyoung to the kiss and cry. he waves to the side of the crowd he’s closest to, and the shrill shriek of a girl in the front row makes him smile.

he sits down, and it feels to warm to be wearing his team jacket.

_“the scores for seungmin kim.”_

seungmin huffs, taking a sip of water from the bottle that jinyoung hands him. he taps his skates against the padded flooring, and clasps his hands together in his lap as he looks at the display.

 **technical element score**  
82.88

 **program element score**  
72.14

 **deductions**  
0.00

 **total score**  
155.02

 **overall score**  
242.3

_“overall score of 242.3. seungmin kim is now in first place.”_

seungmin’s shoulders sag a little, all of the built up tension releasing itself from his muscles as he exhales. the audience is going wild, screaming, cheering his name as he shakily stands up from his seat and waves to them all with a tired smile on his face. jinyoung is saying something to him, and it’s definitely a praise since the older man is smiling as he says it.

he looks off to the side, where hyunjin is standing with chan, and he smiles, almost smug, but not quite.

 _i’m not fucking losing to him, no way_ , he thinks to himself, as jinyoung stands and they slowly make their way backstage.

 

 

“bitch what the fuck.” is the first thing jisung says to him when they meet backstage. “how are you so fucking talented i’m fucking shaking in my boots right now.”  
“you’re wearing sneakers—”  
“that’s besides the point. you fucking _smashed_ everyone into the ground.”  
“you know, as i do,” seungmin snickers.

seungmin’s legs are still shaky, and when he sits down on a sofa in front of a cameraman with jisung and renjun, his thighs are trembling in the confines of his pants.

“jesus, guess your problem still hasn’t gone away. your legs are shaking like a teenage girl’s in front of her high school crush.” jisung laughs, and seungmin’s limbs feel too heavy to even attempt to hit him. he rolls his eyes and looks up to the tv display in front of them instead, where the camera is focussed on hyunjin stretching his arms above his head as he moves around the rink as a quick warm up before his long program begins.

hyunjin’s moves are as carefree yet elegant as they always are, and it annoys seungmin that he can be so calm before such a big moment.

hyunjin’s music is intense, to say the least, and his movements match it well. seungmin doesn’t pay particular attention to the music in other people’s long programs, more focussed on how the skater moves and how they seem to interpret it, but with hyunjin, it’s as if the music is part of him.

he almost under rotates his quad salchow, but manages to pull it off nonetheless. seungmin releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“holy fuck, that was close,” jisung breathes, and renjun nods in agreement.

hyunjin’s eyebrows always seem to be furrowed in concentration, and seungmin never quite understands how one can devote four minutes worth of concentration to the long program, even if he does it himself. there’s a lot of tension in the room, as the camera tracks the blades of hyunjin’s skates before he seamlessly goes from his step sequence to his final jump combination.

a quadruple toe loop, followed by a triple lutz. he lands it with a slightly shaky foot but it’s clean.

seungmin leans back in his seat when hyunjin finishes and the music halts, fiddling with the material of his pants as he closely watches the boy on screen bowing to each side of the room.

chan applauds him when he reaches the side of the rink, and praises him when he slides his guards on and pulls his jacket overtop his fancy jewelled lace top.

they make it to the kiss and cry eventually, and seungmin is mildly surprised that hyunjin hasn’t fallen yet.

_“the scores for hyunjin hwang.”_

**technical element score**  
75.48

 **program element score**  
70.72

 **deductions**  
0.00

 **total score**  
146.20

 **overall score**  
235.36

_“total score of 235.36. hyunjin hwang is now in second place.”_

seungmin chokes on his water. hyunjin’s eyes widen.

 _hyunjin_. _second place_. the words sound unusual in the same sentence.

“wait—” jisung speaks up all of a sudden. “did you. just beat. hwang hyunjin. in a figure skating tournament?”

seungmin can’t even hear him because of the sheer shock from hearing those words. _hyunjin_. _second place_.

“seungmin, you just beat hyunjin in a figure skating tournament,” renjun says, his mouth dropped open.

jinyoung bursts through the door to the bathroom from where he was taking a quick break.

“seungmin, did you just win against hyunjin?”

seungmin is sure he blacks out for a second there. when the results show up on screen, he has to blink a couple of times before he can fully register what in the _fuck_ just happened.

_**1.** korea — seungmin kim [242.3 points]_   
_**2.** korea — hyunjin hwang [235.36 points]_   
_**3.** china — renjun huang [233.46 points]_   
_**4.** canada — mark lee [232.23 points]_   
_**5.** usa — eric sohn [232.12 points]_

seungmin shakes his head to try and clear his brain.

he’s done it, he’s won.

before he realises it, jinyoung is ruffling the hair on the crown of his head and jisung and renjun are cheering from beside him. even from backstage, seungmin can hear the cheering and screaming from the crowd outside.

he’s done it, he’s won.

seungmin exhales loudly. is this what it feels like to win against hyunjin?

if so, he really likes the feeling.

now, all he has to do is get through the awards ceremony and the after party in peace, and he can finally say he’s won a tournament against hyunjin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "did my chest just swell with pride for a fictional victory??? u can fuckin bet on it" - ash, 2018
> 
> ok this took way longer than necessary but here it is !!! chapter six and the second half of the slovakia tounament !!!
> 
> comment what you think about this chapter and this fic so far !!!
> 
> (also, hmu on tumblr abt other stray kids things if youd like - @jisxngie)


	7. so we keep on, keep on, keep on.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “hi,” he breathes, and seungmin can’t help the small smile tugging at his lips. hyunjin isn’t annoyed.  
> “hey,” seungmin replies, turning to face the taller boy. “your free was great, i’m jealous.”  
> “you? jealous?” hyunjin laughs. “says the gold medalist.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter involves a LOT OF RAMBLING LMAO IM SORRY

seungmin fiddles with his fingers as he waits off to the side of the rink while the female’s singles medalists are being announced. his hair is falling out of its previously neat parting as he turns his head to watch tzuyu (chou tzuyu, a junior figure skater from taiwan) stepping up onto the first place podium. hyunjin isn’t with him, and when he asks renjun where he is, the boy responds with a soft, ‘he had to take a quick bathroom break’.

seungmin startles when he feels a hand on his shoulder, and when he turns, hyunjin is there, smiling down at him.

“hi,” he breathes, and seungmin can’t help the small smile tugging at his lips. hyunjin isn’t annoyed.  
“hey,” seungmin replies, turning to face the taller boy. “your free was great, i’m jealous.”  
“you? jealous?” hyunjin laughs. “says the gold medalist.”

seungmin backhands him lightly on the arm, and renjun snorts from beside them.

_“junior men’s singles.”_

hyunjin opens his mouth to speak. “you weren’t joking when you said you don’t fuck around in the grand prix.”  
“of course.” seungmin shifts his weight onto one of his feet, scratching the side of his neck.  
“well—” hyunjin holds out his hand. “good job, anyways. it’s always nice to have competition.”

_“in third place, renjun huang of china.”_

seungmin gently grabs his hand and shakes it, gasps when hyunjin flashes him a quick wink and a smirk as renjun steps out onto the ice and the crowd applauds him.

hyunjin chuckles at him, his eyes crinkling pretty behind long midnight bangs.

_“in second place, hyunjin hwang of korea.”_

hyunjin pats seungmin’s hand with his other one before dropping it and turning on his heels to step out onto the ice to claim the second place block on the podium.

seungmin rubs his fingers, still warm from hyunjin’s own hands. it’s a lot colder in the room than he’d originally thought.

hyunjin bows to each side of the audience, waving as he smoothly moves back behind the podium. renjun turns and gives him a quick high five before he steps up onto the second place block and smiles at the multiple cameras pointed at him.

seungmin leans up against the padded rink wall and places his chin in the palm of his hand as he watches on.

_“in first place, seungmin kim of korea.”_

seungmin still isn’t used to the sound of the crowd when his name is announced, but he smiles nonetheless as the security guy pulls open the padded rink wall gate so he can step onto the ice. the applause is tremendous, ringing in seungmin’s ears as he bows and moves to the back of the podium, where both hyunjin and renjun turn around and hold out a hand to him.

“guys, what the hell,” he breathes under all of the cheering, but smiles and grabs their hands anyways, jumping up onto the first place block.

it’s weird seeing the top of hyunjin’s head.

(seungmin has never been shy of his smile, but standing between hyunjin and renjun in front of a million cameras makes him feel just the tiniest bit self-conscious of it.)

the weight of the medal around his neck feels the same as always, but this time gold is hanging from around his neck rather than silver, and he thinks it’s a nice change. he fiddles with the small bouquet of flowers resting in his arms before turning to hyunjin.

“hey, come up here for photos,” he whispers, and hyunjin tilts his head.  
“but you’re the gold medallist—”  
“just get up here with me.” seungmin turns to renjun when the boy looks over at them. “you too.”

with a slightly hesitant step, hyunjin rises up onto the first place block, renjun following behind him. seungmin smiles softly at the cameras, letting the other two boys wrap one of their arms around the small of his back for balance and—

 _wow_ , hyunjin’s arm is big against his back, almost protective as he feels fingers digging very slightly into his waist.

it’s comforting.

 

 

seungmin adjusts the cuff of his dress shirt, fixing it around his wrist as jinyoung takes long strides up to him.

“how you doin’, kiddo?” he asks, and seungmin looks up at him.  
“ah, i’m fine.” seungmin smiles. “have you seen renjun?”  
“i think he’s over with hyunjin and somi, they should be near the banquet table.”  
“and jisung?”  
“probably stuffing his face full of food to be honest.”

seungmin snorts, the liquid in his cup moving with every shake of his shoulders.

the room is lit up with bright lights, music playing through the speakers hidden away behind banners and curtains. junior figure skaters from different countries are all gathered in the room, walking up to seungmin and shaking his hand and saying _congratulations_. seungmin simply smiles and thanks them, letting them move off back to their conversations with other skaters.

“seungmin.”

said male turns around at the sound of his name, and inhales sharply when he sees hyunjin standing there, jisung following up behind him.

“how’s the gold medalist?” hyunjin teases, lightly elbowing seungmin in the side.  
“i don’t know.” seungmin shrugs. “how are ya?”  
“st _op_ ,” hyunjin giggles.  
“nah, teasing people is my specialty.”

jisung walks up to the duo and slings an arm around seungmin’s shoulders, sipping at his drink.

“no, but really,” hyunjin begins, and jisung looks at seungmin, “i’m gonna get the attention all on you whether you like it or not.”  
“i’m not nearly drunk enough for this,” seungmin sighs.  
jisung snorts into his drink. “bitch the fuck— you’re underage.”  
“ _still_.” seungmin shrugs.

seungmin still doesn’t even know why jisung is there. knowing him, he probably smooth talked his way past security. seungmin brushes it off. there’s no point trying to separate them — jisung is like a fucking magnet with 67 tesla, he isn’t ever leaving seungmin’s goddamn side.

“either way, seungmin,” hyunjin begins, his lips quirking into a smile, eyes creasing cheerily behind raven bangs, “again, congrats on your gold. i’ll see you in canada?”  
“if you can make it through in slovenia,” seungmin teases, raising an eyebrow.  
“pl _ease_ dude, i’ll smash it.”

seungmin has a hunch that hyunjin might just _be_ telling the truth.

“then, i’ll smash it in china,” seungmin promises. hyunjin smiles softly at him, full of affection and admiration.  
“okay then, we’ll see about that.”

seungmin spends the rest of the night loitering around other skaters, smiling and taking a hundred photos for social media. his back is sore from sitting so straight through the numerous long press conferences all week, but when he (very gently) gets shoved against renjun in the front row of a big group photo, it suddenly doesn’t even matter anymore.

when he gets back to his hotel room and checks his instagram, people are going off in his activity tab, tagging him in photos that he’s in.

_— aw seungmin and renjun are so cute in this look at my babies_

_— seungmin???? in the same??? room as hyunjin????? blessed_

_— how did **@hhan_ji** get in there i just wanna know_

_— i bet all of you walnuts that seungmin and hyunjin are fucking dating dont @@ me_

_— ok tzuyu,,, my girl,,,,, so beautiful_

he snickers at a few of them, ‘aww’ing at others.

 

 

“hyunjin, your landing was awkward. do it again.”

hyunjin hums an, ‘okay, coach!’, and sets himself up for his quadruple lutz again. chan observes him from the sidelines, hands tucked in the pockets of his hoodie, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he watches hyunjin. the boy is more tense than usual, he can tell. it’s been two weeks since the tournament in slovakia, and hyunjin has since flown back to korea to spend time with his parents before flying back to australia with chan to train.

his landing is slightly better the second time he does it.

“that’s better.” chan smiles.  
“when’s the tournament in slovenia?” hyunjin asks, coming to a slow stop in front of chan.  
“it’s in october. we’re there for my birthday, remember?”  
“ah, that’s right.”

hyunjin digs his toe pick into the ice, shaving off a tiny bit of the substance. his lungs are still burning with the effort of breathing after skating, and when he looks over at chan, the older male smiles softly.

“momo’s going to be at seungmin’s tournament in, what was it?” chan rubs his temples to try and remember.  
“china. seungmin’s competing in china.”  
“that’s right—”  
“but why is momo going to be there?”  
“she just happens to be there visiting some family friends.”

hyunjin nods, running a hand through his hair.

“so, you and woojin, eh?” hyunjin says all of a sudden, and chan sputters.  
“w-what are you talking about? woojin?”  
“mm—” hyunjin nods. “—seungmin’s friend.”  
“ah, i—”

hyunjin is snickering annoyingly loud, and chan threatens to get on the rink to strangle him.

 

 

seungmin leans his cheek against his knuckles, kicking his legs back and forth under his desk. his teacher drones on about something to do with scientific notation, algebra and the sort but he isn’t paying attention. jisung is sitting next to him, busy sketching something in his notebook and also not paying attention. maths has never been a particularly interesting subject, more boring and bullshit if seungmin was to say so himself. he switches his gaze from the whiteboard down to his laptop, open on a document with his final paper on it. he reaches out to type something.

_with the use of scientific notation, we can then further analyse the data and_

_i want to die please shove the blade of my skates down my throat_

he elbows jisung in the side, getting his attention. jisung glances at his screen and snorts softly.

“if you die, you won’t be able to smash hyunjin in canada,” jisung points out.  
“fuck, you’re right.” seungmin buries his head in his arms.

he pulls his phone out, opening snapchat and swiping to his messages.

 **innie innie jeonginnie**  
seungmin minho’s got the basic runthrough of your gp final short  
also  
i somehow set my classmate’s book on fire and i dont even know how

 **me**  
cool  
but wh a t  
where the hell did you get fire from??

 **innie innie jeonginnie**  
i was in chem  
and uh  
we were using bunsen burners to heat up a chemical  
and i knocked it over with my elbow by accident bc i wasn’t watching  
nobody actually saw so i lowkey got away with it

 **me**  
you’re doing great sweetie

seungmin sends a photo of himself giving him a thumbs up and jisung yawning in the corner. jisung smacks him on the shoulder, but he sends it anyway. jeongin’s basically a child compared to the two of them (an adorable one with the personality of satan, to be specific).

school sucks. seungmin is glad to almost be over and done with it.

 

seungmin tightens the laces of his skates, barely tuning into the conversation changbin is having with jisung next to him in the locker room.

“you dating felix yet?” jisung snickers at him, and changbin (lightly) whacks him across the back of his head.  
“first of all, shut the fuck up,” changbin sighs, leaning against the scratched, faded blue lockers, “second of all, yeah, actually.”  
“oh my fucking god.” jisung gapes at the older boy.

seungmin is legitimately cry-laughing into his own knees. changbin has always been a blunt person.

“what the fuck, and you didn’t fucking tell us??”  
“i was _busy_!”  
“stop, i’m actually crying—” seungmin manages to choke out in between sniffs and huffs of laughter.  
“you have no right to speak, hyunjin lover,” jisung snickers, and seungmin shoves him with an incredible amount of force.  
“st _op_ , asshole—” seungmin wipes his eyes, glaring at the older boy.

“everything okay in here— why is seungmin crying and why is jisung on the floor?”

it’s jinyoung, with his head poking through the door and the top of jeongin’s head poking through underneath his.

“seungmin has a crush on hyunjin but he won’t admit it!”  
“jisung is being a shit!”  
“both of them are a mess!”

changbin yells overtop the two of them, jinyoung only smiles and tells jisung and seungmin to hurry and get their skates on.

seungmin thinks jinyoung is a great coach (since he does actually put up with their shit).

“ugh, my toe hurts,” jisung groans as he stands, wobbling in his black skates.  
“stop whining, you big baby bitch,” seungmin snickers, following the shorter into the rink with changbin close behind.

jisung makes a mental note to shove him over on the ice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whaddup im vita im thirteen and im the queen of jumping from one scene to another, completely irrelevant, one
> 
> as always, this is unedited :)
> 
> i gotta get changlix in there too uwu
> 
> tell me what you think so far in the comments !! kudos are also appreciated !!!


	8. we're the new heroes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “hyunjin, are you the only one not stressing out right now?” chan asks him when he’s tying up the laces of his skates before practice.  
> “huh? why would i need to be stressed?” hyunjin is genuinely confused at what chan is saying.  
> “so you’re telling me you don’t know?”  
> “know about what? chan just tell me, please. you’re freaking me out.”

jisung does indeed end up making his one goal to push seungmin over on the ice, chasing after the laughing boy around the rink in circles. seungmin is a lot faster than him, speeding past changbin and jeongin while jinyoung is taking a phone call. seungmin turns, skids to an abrupt stop and lets jisung crash full speed into him, bringing the two of them to the ground in a fit of laughter.

“ya’ll are really gonna end up hurting each other one day i swear to god,” changbin calls across the rink, though he’s not paying particular attention since he’s looking at his phone.  
“and if you do, seungmin isn’t gonna be able to compete in the olympics,” jeongin says after him, leaning on the knuckles of his right hand.  
“what about me?” jisung scoffs, scrambling to his feet on the slippery surface.  
“uhm,” jeongin begins, clicking his tongue, “how about you focus on your crush on minho for now?”

seungmin cackles, jinyoung can’t help the smile tugging at his lips as he talks to whoever it is over the phone. jisung shoves seungmin in the shoulder, sputtering sentences that don’t even make sense.

“seungmin, you’re in china next month,” jinyoung muses, sliding his phone back into his pocket, “minho suggests switching your combination jump to be the last one instead of near the start of the second half of your free.”  
“he’s trying to kill me, i swear,” seungmin huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “does he know how much stamina that takes?”  
“he does, but it’s just a suggestion. you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. besides—” jinyoung shrugs.

“—you’re gonna land that quad axel whether the world wants you to or not.”  
“coach, _how_? i keep under rotating it.”  
“you’ll get there soon, bud. it’ll guarantee your first place in the final against hyunjin.”

seungmin raises an eyebrow, digging his toe pick into the ice. “huh, i forgot he’s competing this year.”

jinyoung only smiles, and reaches out to ruffle seungmin’s brown hair. seungmin groans, dragging his hands down his face.

“you sound like a dying cow.”  
“jisung, i will drop kick your ass so quick if you don’t shut up.”  
“try me, bitch.”

 

 

“felix, if your camera is 4k quality i swear to god. nobody needs to see my unholy skin in ultra hd.”

seungmin leans against the front door of his house, slipping his vans on over black and white socks (“cool kid socks”, as jisung would call them). felix is standing in front of him, his camera in hand as he films the younger boy.

“don’t even worry about it, dude.” felix smiles.

seungmin rolls his eyes, stuffing his house keys into the back pocket of his jeans. felix had invited him to hang out around the city, not forgetting to mention that he was going to be filming.

“i swear to god if you title this video, “exploring seoul featuring famous figure skater seungmin kim”, i’m gonna yell.”  
“y’know, i wasn’t going to, but now i’m considering it.”  
“fuck.”  
“your fault.”

seungmin sighs, pulling his hood over his head and tugging his mask up over his face.

“oh wow, so famous!” felix coos, aiming the camera at him.

seungmin rolls his eyes but even from behind the mask felix can tell he’s smiling.

 

 

they end up in the cafe near seungmin’s school, sitting across from each other in a booth and talking quietly to each other. seungmin takes a sip of his peach flavoured ice tea, eyes still trained on the phone in his other hand, the smooth glass back cool against his warm hands. he’s kinda surprised he’s lasted this long without a case.

_**ffelix_lee** ok someone @@ seungmin and tell him how boyfriend he looks pls_

“felix, did you just—” seungmin cuts himself off with a whine around the straw between his lips.  
“thank me later,” felix giggles, then leans his elbows against the table and sips his strawberry lemonade. “anyways, your little crush on hyunjin?”  
“it’s not a crush, for fucks sake,” seungmin narrows his eyes, kicking the blonde’s shin under the table.  
“sure it isn’t.” felix smiles, and seungmin really can’t bring himself to hate the boy. “you were giving him heart eyes all through the after party. jinyoung told us.”  
“wow, betrayed.”  
“so you were?”  
“no!”

felix raises an eyebrow, still smiling at the younger boy.

seungmin opens his instagram again, scrolling down to felix’s post.

_**seungmin_kim** im not boyfriend like, you asswipe_  
_**s.eunghwaaa** wow what a cutie i’m related to !!!_

felix gapes. “at least your sister has some sort of taste in cute photos.”

seungmin rolls his eyes.

 

 

seungmin cocks his head when he watches jinyoung ordering their tickets to china.

“so who’s going? me, you, jisung, minho, and that’s it?”  
“yes. felix, woojin, changbin and jeongin are staying here— no, wait, jeongin’s going too, aren’t you?”

jeongin nods excitedly.

seungmin nods, humming as he taps his skates to the beat of a song he doesn’t know the name of. he picks at the rips in his jeans, frayed from the amount of times he’s skidded on his knees on the ice with them on instead of his sweats. jeongin is sitting beside him, picking at his nails as he slowly scrolls through his instagram feed. the younger has a pair of skates on as well, and seungmin remembers that he’s supposed to be teaching him instead of sitting and watching jinyoung talking to someone over the phone as he orders plane tickets.

“innie-yah, seungminnie’s gon’ teach you a thing or two about figure skating.” seungmin giggles, pulling the raven haired male into a headlock and ruffling wavy strands of hair.

“you’re being too affectionate— ow, that’s my ear!”

seungmin laughs, but keeps jeongin against his side even though the younger boy is struggling in his grasp.

“what the heck— you’re stronger than i thought.”

jeongin eventually gives up, letting seungmin hold him in a very awkwardly positioned hug. jinyoung sets his phone down on the padded rink wall, leaning against it as he looks over at seungmin.

“seungmin, you need to go practice if you want to win in china.” jinyoung smiles. “we’re there in two weeks.”  
“i’m _gonna_ win in china,” seungmin huffs, “someone could knock me out and i’d still be able to win gold.”  
“sure you could,” jeongin says sarcastically. seungmin squeezes him tighter in his arms.

(yes, seungmin does end up teaching jeongin how to skate. and yes, jeongin is actually pretty good at it.)

 

 

**2018 JGP — HARBIN, CHINA**

seungmin is jetlagged, to say the least. when they had gotten to their hotel, it had been 2am and seungmin had shoved jisung out of the way to fall into his bed in the hotel room.

now, he’s living off of two large straight black coffees and six hours of sleep, and renjun is the only one trying to keep him awake by elbowing him in the side every so often. they’re sitting in a cafe in the middle of the city, and the smell of coffee and cake wafts through the air as they’re sitting.

“you’ve always been bad with even the slightest jetlag,” renjun mumbles, running his fingers through the taller’s hair, “i’m surprised you’re still consistently getting gold and silver.”  
“he’s used to it, it just fucks him up sometimes,” jisung hums from across the table, stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth.  
“yeah, it just looks like i need some heavy duty foundation sometimes because of how bad my bags are.”  
“i’ve seen you at your worst, those bags are fucking nothing dude,” jisung mumbles around a mouthful of toast.

seungmin pulls a face. jisung isn’t wrong. he’d gone two full days without sleep and had had a mental breakdown in the middle of his english class.

“the caffeine’ll kick in in a bit, don’t worry. i’ll be awake before you know it.”  
“oh yeah, sure you will.”

seungmin kicks jisung under the table, sinking back further into the cushioned seat and drowning in his grey hoodie. the short program is tomorrow, and seungmin is more than ready to kick ass in the tournament.

 

 

seungmin wasn’t lying when he said he was ready to kick ass. when the number ‘93.23’ shows up on the monitor in front of his eyes, he fistbumps the air. sweat is pooling uncomfortably at the small of his back, where the silk of his shirt is sticking, more sweat runs down the sides of his face. he’s still panting, the rush of adrenaline in his veins after a skate still very much there and prominent. jinyoung rubs his knee and smiles at him, praising him at achieving a score that high.

_“score of 93.23. seungmin kim is now in first place.”_

seungmin thinks he’ll never be over the hype after his programs. when he bows and blows a kiss to the crowd, the shrill shriek of a girl in the front row catches his attention. he smiles, before jinyoung is ushering him backstage where jisung is waiting for him with opens arms.

“why are you always giving me hugs after competition?” seungmin pants, but grants him the gesture anyways.  
“because while i hate your ass, you’re my best friend and i think you deserve one after your programs.”  
“well, thanks.”

they stand there like that for a while, just holding each other in their arms and telling each other bad dad jokes they can come up with on the spot. jinyoung comes by a little bit later, with his phone in hand and a small smile on his face.

“ah, finally a bonding moment between the two of you,” jinyoung sighs, patting jisung on the back.  
“what are you talking about, when i sleep over his place, he becomes a clingy ass baby who won’t leave me alone,” seungmin coughs, pulling away to properly zip his jacket up.  
“i do not!”  
“yes, you do. and you won’t let me out of the goddamn bed when i need to piss because you’re clinging to me like a koala!”  
“felix does that.”  
“so do you!”

seungmin shoves jisung gently, crossing his arms over his chest and sticking his tongue out at the older.

“you two are still kids, i guess.” jinyoung shrugs a little, looking down at his phone again. seungmin rolls his eyes, and jisung just wraps his arms around him again.

 

 

seungmin leans his cheek on his knuckles, scrolling through his twitter feed. changbin and felix are having a twitter argument about whether red velvet cupcakes or plain vanilla cupcakes are better and jisung is tweet spamming about how cute a dog that he passed on the street is. the warm air of the cafe is calming, the soft hum of music playing relaxing his nerves. he switches over to instagram, where people are furiously tagging him in one of hyunjin’s posts.

“what the fuck,” he mutters to himself, as he opens the post.

it’s a slightly blurry photo of hyunjin, in what seungmin assumes is his kitchen (dang it looks expensive as hell), holding up a bowl and a spatula with white frosting dashed across his cheeks and all over his fingers.

_**h.xyunjins** oh y’know, i’m just making some cupcakes to congratulate @seungmin_kim on his short in china (i’m kidding, they’re for me because i was craving vanilla cupcakes lol)_

seungmin blinks down at the photo, and taps on the comments.

_**spookhei** theyre dating im telling you_  
_**marklee__** wow listen where is my dedicated post im threatened_  
_**h.xyunjins** @marklee__ boy you dont get any since you’re in canada_  
_**v.itxaaa** i can hear the shippers screaming from my cave of sadness_

he smiles a little at the post, hitting the send button underneath it.

_**send to: h.xyunjins** _  
_you tag me but im in china and youre in australia where can i claim my cupcakes_

he hits send with a tired sigh, sipping his iced tea as he sets his phone down on the table.

 **h.xyunjins**  
come to aus and claim i’ve still got like fifteen left

 **seungmin_kim**  
im in china b  
i cant fly there and fly back in time for my free

 **h.xyunjins**  
u sure abt that bb

 **seungmin_kim**  
ye b

seungmin stands from his seat, picks up his things and slowly makes his way out of the cafe.

 

 

the atmosphere of the arena when the skaters walk in is as exciting as ever. seungmin tugs his skate guards off and steps onto the ice. jinyoung grabs at his wrist gently, holding him back as the other male skaters step onto the rink for their final rehearsal before the men’s long program begins.

“be careful out there, bud.” jinyoung reminds him. “i know you’re going to bring home a gold.”

seungmin smiles, nods. when jinyoung releases his wrist, he pushes himself back out onto the rink.

 

 

hyunjin hears about it before he sees it.

“hyunjin, are you the only one not stressing out right now?” chan asks him when he’s tying up the laces of his skates before practice.  
“huh? why would i need to be stressed?” hyunjin is genuinely confused at what chan is saying.  
“so you’re telling me you don’t know?”  
“know about what? chan just tell me, please. you’re freaking me out.”  
“seungmin.”  
“seungmin? what about seungmin?”

the second he’s finished tying his laces, he stands, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and concern.

“he collided with another skater.” chan’s voice is shallow, quiet, and he reaches into his back pocket to fish out his phone.

“wait— what?” the panic is evident in hyunjin’s voice. “seungmin collided with another skater? as in, seungmin ran into another skater on the rink?”  
“mm.” chan hums as affirmation, holding out his phone to hyunjin.

_**figure skater seungmin kim gives the world a huge shock as he collides with skater lai guanlin.** _

_on the morning of september 21st, 2018, one of korea’s best figure skaters, seungmin kim, gave the world a shock when he collided with figure skater lai guanlin. in the footage shown below, kim is shown making rounds around the rink, focussed on his own routine. other skaters are staying clear of him, and all is well up until about 2:21 into the video, where you can see the exact moment kim collides into lai._

hyunjin doesn’t even read the rest of the article, just scrolls down to the video underneath it. when it begins playing, he watches seungmin quickly making his way around the rink, occasionally waving to the audience off to the side of the frame.

he doesn’t normally feel sick when he sees someone get hurt, it’s more of a shock thing, but when he sees seungmin turn his body just in time for guanlin to slam into him from an awkward angle, his stomach flips. it doesn’t even take a second, and seungmin is on the ground, and the entire stadium has gone into panic. guanlin is still standing, surprisingly, but seungmin isn’t even in frame.

when the video switches to a different angle, hyunjin makes a noise. it’s seungmin lying on the ground, curled up into a ball, unmoving except for the rise and fall of his chest. from the angle the video is taken, hyunjin can’t see seungmin’s face, but he can tell there’s blood.

what annoys hyunjin is that they leave him lying there in his own blood and tears for god knows how long.

he doesn’t even watch the rest of the video, just shoves chan’s phone against his coach’s chest and huffs, looking at the ground.

“clear my schedule for tomorrow. i’m going to see him.”  
“what? hyunjin, you can’t—”

“don’t try and convince me otherwise.”

hyunjin turns on his heels and walks out of the locker room, slamming the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY THIS CHAPTER IS SO LATE KSKSKSK I WAS BUSY WITH SCHOOL
> 
> anyways i hope you liked this chapter as well uwu
> 
> kudos and comments are appreciated !!


	9. fought off the wolf in sheep's clothing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he can’t move his arms or legs, not much anyways, but he manages to roll over onto his front and hold himself up with both forearms. when he coughs, he’s very vaguely aware of the mess he’s making underneath him, with splotches of blood and saliva.

it’s a weird feeling, the attention he’s getting.

seungmin can feel the ache in his stomach, like a stab wound right in his guts. his vision is swimming, the stadium a blurred mess around him as he hears the distant yells of, “off the rink, off the rink!”. his chest hurts, and he’s acutely aware of the blood running down the side of his face from where he hit his head against the ice. he can’t move his arms or legs, not much anyways, but he manages to roll over onto his front and hold himself up with both forearms. when he coughs, he’s very vaguely aware of the mess he’s making underneath him, with splotches of blood and saliva.

it feels like forever until the medics get to him, and he can’t even talk properly when they ask him questions like, “are you okay?” “is anywhere hurting really bad?”.

he’s barely holding up his own weight, and the medics have to shuffle to the edge of the rink with his arms over their shoulders. in a small corner of his brain, the one that’s not screaming pain at him, he kind of feels bad for the people that have to haul him backstage.

jinyoung and jisung grab at him as soon as they can, and jisung is muttering reassuring things to him that sound kinda sound like jibberish in his ears.

his vision is mostly cleared by the time they seat him down out of sight of the cameras and the audience. jeongin and jisung yell at the cameramen to go away and give them privacy.

“seungmin, can you hear me?” jinyoung asks, kneeling down in front of him as a medic pushes his hair out of his face.  
“a little… my chest hurts… and so does my head…”  
“okay, bud.” jinyoung smiles at him to try to reassure him. “you’re gonna be fine, the medics will fix you up.”

the sting of alcohol in the huge cut on his forehead hurts, and seungmin reaches out a hand to jisung, who takes it in his own without even a moment of hesitation.

“hey, bud.” jisung smiles at him, and seungmin blinks drearily at him. is he crying?  
“ji, are you crying?” seungmin asks softly, his lips turning up just the slightest.  
“well yeah, duh. you probably would as well if i had an accident like that.”

a medic gently but firmly wraps a bandage around the top of his head as another cleans away the blood staining his cheeks and dripping down his chin and neck. they patch up the graze on his jaw as well, and seungmin vaguely hears the doctor telling jinyoung that he’ll need stitches.

“you’re right, i’m sorry…” seungmin whispers softly, and jisung squeezes his hand tighter.  
“don’t be.”

jeongin taps jisung on the shoulder and pulls him away to talk to him for a second, leaving seungmin with the nurses.

“okay, sweetie, so i’m going to need you to just close your eyes and relax. i need to see if there are any other injuries that you may have gotten.”

seungmin does as he’s told, closing his eyes and leaning back into the cold plastic chair.

jisung’s hand is super warm in his. he squeezes it tighter.

“i’m still competing…” he mumbles, to no one in particular. when he opens his eyes, jisung and jeongin are looking at him in shock, and jinyoung’s face is strong, stern.

“seungmin, you can’t. you’re going to end up hurting yourself more—” jinyoung is cut off when seungmin narrows his eyes.  
“i’m _going_ to compete in the free, broken and bruised or not.”

“you’re fucking crazy,” jisung breathes, but his lips are turning upwards.  
“that’s why i’m your friend.” seungmin manages a smirk.

jinyoung still looks mad at him, but he sighs. seungmin blinks.

“okay, fine, i’ll let you compete. but if you feel sick or dizzy at any point in time, just pull out. you hear me?”

seungmin sighs in relief. “yes, coach. i hear you.”

jisung smiles at him again.

 

 

the air in the city is humid, and hyunjin pulls his mask higher over his mouth. chan is trailing behind him, explaining to someone over the phone why hyunjin can’t make it to an interview. hyunjin is walking way faster than usual, and chan has to grab his bag to stop him from walking right into the road.

“hyunjin, slow down— seungmin probably isn’t even competing anymore.”

hyunjin turns on his heels and shows chan his phone.

_**figure skater seungmin kim seungmin says he’s still going to compete in the long program.** _

“wait, what? he’s got a head injury and he’s still competing?"  
“i don’t fucking know? i’m gonna slap him if he is.”

chan huffs. hyunjin has always been stubborn.

 

 

seungmin shrugs renjun off when he grabs his wrist to try and stop him from making his way onto the rink. the painkillers the medics gave him are strong, strong enough for him to not feel the pain from the cut on his head. the crowd is dead silent when he moves to the center of the rink. he’s the last skater for the men's singles. he looks over at the sidelines and smiles reassuringly when he sees jisung, jeongin and jinyoung.

when he moves his arms, there’s a sharp sting in his shoulder, and he’s sure there’s a huge bruise there. his movements are definitely more relaxed than usual, just balancing on the line between relaxed and sluggish, and his limbs feel heavy.

he manages to land his triple toe loop, the crowd gives him a hearty applause.

his head is spinning very slightly, footing kind of unstable as he moves from his death drop into his sit spin. when he stands and transitions into his step sequence, it’s the sloppiest he’s ever done, but he blames it on his headache.

the time ticks over the two minute mark. the second half of his routine has begun.

if he thought that it was hard to keep focus during four minutes, he had been terribly wrong. he loses focus every so often, missing just a beat when he barely lands his quad flip.

he under rotates his quad salchow, falling to the ground and taking a second to scramble back to his feet.

‘i can’t fail my combination jump,’ he thinks to himself, switching his footing and preparing himself for his quadruple lutz.

he lands it, just barely, and the crowd goes wild as he moves into position for his triple axel

he surprises even himself when he lands it. his landing is awkward and unstable, his ankle wobbling in the confines of his skate. the painkillers are starting to wear off, and his headache is coming back full force as he arches his back into a perfect ina bauer.

he falls on his last jump, but he makes up for it with his combination spin before he’s halting himself with arms over his torso and his head thrown backwards.

the applause that follows is easily the loudest seungmin has ever heard, and his limbs are screaming at him to stop moving and just _lay down_. he takes a deep bow to each side of the arena, and cant help the tears stinging tired eyes as he sluggishly moves back over to jinyoung and the others.

“seungmin, you did it! you did it!” jisung yells as seungmin gets help to put his skate guards back on.  
“i did,” seungmin whispers back, letting jeongin slip his jacket over his shoulders.

they move to the kiss and cry, which seems like an entirely appropriate name in seungmin’s situation. he’s got tears dripping from his eyelashes, but he’s not sobbing or crying out loud. he’s always been a quiet child.

_“the scores for seungmin kim.”_

jinyoung squeezes his knee comfortingly, and seungmin curls in on himself as another shot of pain runs through his body.

 **technical element score**  
79.13

 **program element score**  
83.62

 **deductions**  
2.00

 **total score**  
160.75

 **overall score**  
253.98

_“overall score of 253.98. seungmin kim is now in first place.”_

the applause is tremendous, and seungmin can’t help the sob that leaves his throat when it happens. jinyoung has stopped petting his knee, instead sitting in shock at seungmin’s score.

“how?” seungmin hiccups, rubbing tired, teary eyes.  
“you aren’t one of korea’s best skaters for nothing, seungmin,” jinyoung whispers under the screams.

seungmin looks to his left, where jeongin and jisung are standing, and he smiles at them, laughing a little when jisung starts crying.

jinyoung ends up carrying him backstage because his legs are too tired to carry his own body weight.

 

 

hyunjin whips out his phone as soon as he has his backpack in his hands and his passport safely tucked away inside of it. the airport is busy, people are speaking chinese and hyunjin doesn’t understand a single word of it. chan is still holding him back by the bag as he brings his phone to his ear.

“hello? renjun?”  
_“hyunjin? what’s up?”_  
“where is seungmin?”  
_“what?”_  
“where’s seungmin?” hyunjin repeats himself, and renjun takes a second to answer.  
_“he’s right here, next to me. he’s sleeping backstage for a bit while they wrap up today.”_  
“what did he place?”

hyunjin halts in his tracks, making chan slam into his back rather forcefully.

“hyunjin, watch ou—” chan is cut off when hyunjin makes a noise.  
“renjun, what did you just say?”

hyunjin turns to chan with wide eyes and an open mouth.

“hyunjin? what is it?”

hyunjin blinks.

“seungmin placed first.”

 

 

seungmin wipes his eyes for the nth time that day, getting rid of the sleep settling in the corners of his eyes. renjun pets the crown of his head as he stands, wobbles and jisung grabs his arm to keep him balanced.

“okay, doctor says you can go through with the awards ceremony and then you have to be in hospital stat so they can stitch you up,” jinyoung says, holding seungmin steady by the waist.  
“okay,” seungmin mumbles. he’s sure he’s high on painkillers at this point.  
“depending on how good you are by tomorrow night, you may or may not be able to go to the after party.”

“it’s my birthday tomorrow, i promise i’ll be all better.” seungmin smiles. “besides, a win like that? without going to celebrate? what a joke.”

his voice is hoarse from both disuse and crying for an hour straight. jisung ruffles his hair, leaning against him.

when seungmin wanders back to the other skaters with jisung’s help, they all scream and cheer for him. nobody is mad or jealous of him, and guanlin gives him a firm hug with a long apology rant tacked onto it. he only smiles, brushes it off with an, ‘it’s okay, really’. the atmosphere is surprisingly bright, and when he sits down on the bench, everyone pampers him like a princess.

he guesses his injury isn’t too bad.

 

 

_“third place, chenle zhong of china.”_

seungmin touches his head where the bandage is, wincing at the pain when his fingers runs over the cut. the patch on his jaw is slowly starting to peel off, and his shoulder is still fucked whenever he tries to move it.

“seungmin, do you think you can get on the podium without help?” renjun asks, blinking at the taller boy.  
“uh, yeah, i think so.”

_“second place, renjun huang of china.”_

seungmin pats him on the back, smiling as he moves out onto the rink. jinyoung steps up next to him, clicking his tongue.

“ah, coach.” seungmin sighs.  
“i’m happy for you.” jinyoung smiles, adjusting the bandage around his head a bit. blood seeps through the beige material, staining it in patches.

_“first place, seungmin kim of korea.”_

seungmin smiles at the crowd, jinyoung helps him pull his skate guards off and he slowly makes his way to the podium.

renjun helps him up, and the crowd screams for them.

 

 

“so, you’re telling me seungmin won?” chan asks, eyebrows furrowed.

hyunjin nods, throwing his bag down between his feet and sitting on a bench on the street, focussed on his phone. the awards ceremony is being broadcasted live, and hyunjin watches as renjun reaches out a hand to seungmin to help him up. brown hair is messed up, thrown every which way around the bandage around his head, and hyunjin itches to go right up to him and fix it for him.

“with a _head injury_?” chan presses on, standing in front of him.  
“uh huh,” hyunjin laughs a little. “what a legend.”  
“he’s gonna be high on painkillers, you know. that hit on the ice is sure to have fucked him up.”  
“yeah, i guess,” hyunjin breathes. “but the thing is, i don’t even know if he’s going to the after party tomorrow or not.”  
“that probably depends on his condition by the morning. if he’s good to walk without falling, and he doesn’t feel too nauseous all the time, then he should be okay.”  
“ngh,” hyunjin makes a noise.

he watches as seungmin bends over to let the official hang his medal around his neck.

“he probably only got gold because his score was so high in the short,” chan muses, and hyunjin hums, eyes still trained on his phone.  
“yeah, i guess.”

chan exhales quietly. “hyunjin, are you really that worried about him?”

“well, yeah, i guess. i mean, he and renjun are like the only competition i’ve got, so—”  
“do you like him?” chan butts in.  
“what? yeah, of course i like him. what makes you think i wou—”  
“no, like in a more-than-friends kind of way.”

hyunjin blinks. oh.

“uh, i… don’t know? i mean, i like him as a friend and he’s good competition but… i don’t even know if he swings that way. plus, have you seen korea? hello, we’re like the most conservative country out there!”

chan’s expression softens. he laughs.

“why are you laughing!”  
“you’re cute, kid.”

 

 

seungmin hates hospitals.

ever since he was a child, he’s hated hospitals. the smell is too clean, the walls are too white, and the bed is too stiff against his aching shoulder. jisung is sitting beside him, one hand in his, the other holding his phone and scrolling through his instagram. the doctor had taken off his bandage, and she had gone to grab anaesthetic and the numbing needle so he can get his stitches and get the fuck out.

“ji, if i say some stupid shit while i’m on anaesthesia, you can’t hold it against me.”  
“seung, i’m not gonna hold anything against you, unl _ess_ you admit some crucial shit that i need to keep in the back of my mind. i don’t even understand how you get high off of a numbing substance. when you got your wisdom teeth taken out, you were so high on that gas you actually _laughed_ at one of my dad jokes.”  
“oh god, i did, i really did,” seungmin groans.

jisung laughs softly, and the doctor walks back in the room.

“okay, honey, are you okay with needles? this is just going to go around here so it can numb around where your cut is.”

she points at an area somewhere near his jaw, and he nods. “that’s fine.”

jisung rubs his knuckles, and seungmin winces a little when the needle pokes him.

seungmin hates hospitals.

 

 

“hi, how can i help you sir?”

hyunjin stuffs his phone into his back pocket, leaning against the front counter. the lady is speaking in chinese, but chan gently pushes him to the side, talking to her in place of him since he actually knows chinese.

“is there a _seungmin kim_ here?”  
“uh, let me check that sir.”

hyunjin taps his foot impatiently, biting his nails.

“uhm, yes, sir. there is a seungmin kim here. do you have any relation with him?”

chan pauses, and looks at hyunjin. hyunjin blinks, and shrugs, mouthing an, ‘i don’t understand anything you’re saying, don’t look at me for help’.

“he’s his boyfriend.” chan points at hyunjin.  
“ah, okay. can i get your names?”  
“chan bang and hyunjin hwang.”  
“okay, thank you sir. please have a seat over there.”  
“okay, thanks.”

chan drags hyunjin by the arm over to the seats near the front.

“what was that conversation about?” hyunjin asks.  
“oh, she was just checking if we were able to visit him or not.”  
“ah, okay.”

chan smiles. innocent kid.

“i can’t believe you actually made me clear your schedule for today so you could see seungmin. do you know how bad it is to lie to the interviewer that you came down with a bad cold?”  
“i mean, it’s worth it, aye?” hyunjin elbows him. chan sighs.  
“you’re so _annoying_.”  
“you love meeee.” hyunjin smiles.

chan sighs again, and the front desk lady calls them up again.

 

 

jisung leans back in his chair, occasionally glancing up at seungmin from his phone. the younger boy is sleeping, the day’s events taking a toll on his body. it’s only half past ten at night, and jisung doesn’t plan on leaving his best friend’s side. seungmin stirs a little, rolling over onto his side and reaching for jisung’s hand unconsciously.

jisung lets him hold onto his pinky, looking back down at his phone and looking through his stories.

_**bangchan_** _  
_i can’t believe i was forced to fly to china what is this_

_**rcznjun** _  
_second place, baby! gon go to the finals in december!_

_**seungmin_kim** _  
_im hIGH OH MY GODDD_

there’s a knock at the door to the room and jisung startles when a nurse walks in.

“you have another two visitors,” she says, and jisung nods silently.

nothing could have prepared jisung for the sight that is hyunjin with mussed raven hair and a face mask and chan trailing in behind him.

“wait— hyunjin?” jisung whisper-yells, standing from his seat and pulling his hand away from seungmin’s.  
“hi, yeah, i— uh— i heard seungmin got super hurt on the rink.”  
“uh, yeah, no shit sherlock.” jisung cocks his head.

seungmin mumbles in his sleep, shifting on the hospital bed.

“he’s sleeping?” chan asks. hyunjin pulls the chair jisung was sitting on next to the bed and looks at seungmin’s face.  
“yeah, he fell asleep after the doctor finished with his stitches. i’ve been here for five hours and he’s been sleeping for two of them.”  
“that seems like seungmin,” hyunjin breathes.

“do you want me to like, leave? or something? if you wanna talk to him?” jisung suggests, and hyunjin shrugs. chan grabs him gently by the shoulders and turns him around.  
“let’s give them some privacy.”

when the door closes, seungmin stirs, his eyes slowly fluttering open. “jisung?”

“no, it’s me,” hyunjin murmurs with a smile, and seungmin rubs his eyes, “hyunjin.”  
“hy _unjin_? what are you doing here?”

seungmin sits up in bed eventually, rubbing his eyes again.

“saw your accident, thought i’d come see you.”  
“oh _god_ , from australia?” seungmin asks in disbelief.  
“yeah.” hyunjin smiles.

seungmin still thinks that hyunjin’s smile is super pretty.

“ugh, so extra,” seungmin groans, but he’s smiling. he gently touches the stitches on his head, running his fingers over the blue string.  
“that’s a huge cut,” hyunjin hums, and seungmin nods.

“if it’d been even one and a half centimetres to the right, i probably wouldn’t even be here.”

he can see hyunjin’s expression fall, and seungmin reaches out to ruffle his hair.

“don’t worry, i’m still here.” he smiles, and hyunjin grabs his hand in his own.  
“thank god—” hyunjin’s voice breaks. “—i wouldn’t have any worthy competition if you were gone.”  
“me? worthy competition? bullshit.”  
“you just won gold, with a head injury. you weren’t lying when you said you were going to smash it in china.”  
“uh huh, now you have to smash it in slovenia or i won’t count it a worthy win.”

seungmin giggles, hyunjin looks at him with a small smile. if anyone were to walk into the room, hyunjin guesses that they’d assume that they were dating.

“okay then, i’ll win in slovenia for you.”

seungmin’s stomach flips. he smiles gently instead, ignoring the rapid beating of his heart.

they talk for a bit more, before jisung and chan come back in and seungmin relaxes completely.

“hyunjin forced me to clear his schedule for today so he could book himself a flight here to see you,” chan breathes, and seungmin’s jaw drops.  
“you shouldn’t have.”  
“he literally left no room for argument.”

seungmin sighs, cocking his head at hyunjin. hyunjin only shrugs. “it’s not a big deal.”

“seungmin, i got you something super cool for your birthday, you’re not ready for it,” jisung says to change the subject, and seungmin raises an eyebrow.  
“did you now?”  
“wait, seungmin’s birthday?” chan asks.  
“mhmm, i’m sixteen tomorrow, on the 22nd.”  
“wow, a head injury _and_ a gold medal the day before your birthday,” hyunjin breathes, and seungmin nods.

“we should all meet up and go to an amusement park or something before the after party since it starts at around seven and ends at eleven, doesn’t it?” jisung looks over at seungmin for confirmation.  
“yeah, it does. i’m down for an amusement park.” seungmin nods.  
“i don’t think jinyoung will be happy about it, but y’know, whatever.”  
“woojin is going to beat my ass when we get home,” seungmin laughs. “he’s going to lecture me and baby me like my sister does. he won’t let me do anything.”

“woojin does that?” chan asks, raising an eyebrow and smiling. oh yeah, that’s right, chan’s highkey got a crush on woojin.  
“yeah, he’s basically my second mom.”

chan laughs, so does hyunjin. seungmin thinks hyunjin’s laugh is the prettiest thing he’s ever heard.

when it hits twelve o’clock, hyunjin whisper-yells, ‘happy birthday!’, to him and he’s sure jisung is filming them. hyunjin is sitting on the side of his hospital bed, softly singing him happy birthday with jisung and chan, and seungmin thinks that this is already a wish come true for him. jisung is snapchatting the whole thing, aiming the camera at them majority of the time.

just as jisung switches to his instagram and records for his story, hyunjin smiles sweetly at seungmin and whispers a soft, “happy sweet sixteen”, and kisses him quickly and softly on the temple.

jisung gasps out a, ‘finally!’, and chan gapes. seungmin pulls the covers over himself to hide his flushed face and hyunjin only smiles and giggles, his cheeks also flushed.

 

when the clock passes quarter to one, hyunjin and chan have to go back to their hotel room, leaving jisung with seungmin again. seungmin’s heart is still beating rapidly, and he pulls the covers of the hospital bed higher over his legs.

“well that was,” jisung begins, “eventful.”  
“yeah, and now i’m super tired.”  
“sleep, dude. you need the rest.”  
“what about you?”  
“i’ll just be over here agreeing to people’s theories about you and hyunjin dating.”

seungmin scoffs, but fiddles with his fingers almost out of nervousness. jisung tilts his head at the taller boy. “what’s wrong?”

“uh, ji, i’m… i'm in a predicament that i kinda can’t get out of.”

jisung stands, grabbing seungmin’s shoulders and looking at him with furrowed brows. “what is it? tell me, seung.”

“i-i—” seungmin cuts himself off for a second, and jisung grips his shoulders tighter.

 

 

“i think i’m actually in love with hyunjin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in this household, we love sister character development
> 
> lmAO anyways— i finished another one really quickly and fucking finally seungmin admits that he has a crush on hyunjin lol im spoiling yall this week since i didnt update last week
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated !!!! tell me what you think !!!!


	10. stood up for what i believed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “hyunjin, i literally get emails from thirsty ass girls asking if you’re single. i’m sure you’re worthy.”  
> “yeah, but they’re girls and seungmin is a guy. why are we even having this conversation anyways?”  
> “because you like seungmin in a more-than-friends sorta way.”  
> “i don’t!”

the newfound information makes him twist and turn in bed. jisung has fallen asleep in the chair next to his hospital bed and he itches to pull him into the bed with him to cuddle like they always used to do as kids. could he really be in love with hyunjin?

he gently ghosts his fingers over the spot where hyunjin had kissed him, and smiles to himself. hyunjin is an angel no one deserves.

it’s still bright in the hallway outside, and seungmin reaches for the buzzer next to his bed to call for a nurse. his throat desperately yearns for water. the door opens not even five minutes later, and a nurse is poking her head in.

“yes, honey? how you going?”  
seungmin inhales, exhales. “i’m okay, just need some water.”  
“alright, sweetie, won’t be a moment.”

jisung stirs from beside him, and he quietly shushes the older boy, telling him to go back to sleep. the clock above the door reads half past four in the morning. he can’t believe he’s studying to be a nurse, even though he doesn’t really like hospitals. he guesses it’s just his natural instinct to help people.

the nurse returns and helps him drink his water. his right arm feels useless as it lays there next to him, shoulder still aching.

when the nurse leaves, switching off the light again, seungmin closes his eyes, hoping to get some shuteye by tomorrow.

 

 

seungmin gets released from the hospital at nine in the morning. jisung gives back seungmin’s hoodie and face mask when they go outside. seungmin brushes his fingers through his messy bangs, hoping to cover the sight of the stitches on the side of his forehead.

jisung hails them a taxi, and opens the door for seungmin to get in before him.

seungmin is glad to have a friend like him.

 

 

hyunjin towel dries his hair, throwing the material over at his duffel bag as he pulls a plain black shirt over his head. chan glances at him from the desk in the room, before returning his attention to his laptop.

hyunjin picks up his phone from the end of the bed, unlocking it and opening his instagram.

yeah, he figured people would be spamming him with ‘are you dating seungmin??’s after jisung had recorded him kissing him on the temple.

“wow, shippers really are no joke,” hyunjin whistles, throwing himself on his bed.  
“why, is it because of you kissing seungmin on the temple?”  
“yeah, like there’s entire fucking theories going around.”  
“well, at least it’ll be easy if you and seungmin do end up dating.”  
“yeah, as if. he deserves so much more than me.”

chan blinks at him, swivels on his chair.

hyunjin is still going through his instagram, quietly tapping through his stories.

“hyunjin, i literally get emails from thirsty ass girls asking if you’re single. i’m sure you’re worthy.”  
“yeah, but they’re girls and seungmin is a guy. why are we even having this conversation anyways?”  
“because you like seungmin in a more-than-friends sorta way.”  
“i don’t!”

hyunjin rolls over onto his stomach and looks at the time on his phone. half past eleven.

his notification sound goes off on twitter, and he checks his messages. it’s jisung.

 **hahanjisung**  
hi we were wondering how long you were going to take to get ready since im in the middle of dying seungmin’s hair

 **hyuwunjins**  
we’re ready but we’re just chilling  
what colour are you dying it?¿

 **hahanjisung**  
[image attached]  
red uwu

hyunjin snorts. it’s a photo of seungmin’s hair drenched in red dye and pulled upwards into a spike.

 **hahanjisung**  
[video attached]

the video makes hyunjin choke. seungmin is stalking around the hotel bathroom like an emu, his shirt too big on him and pajama pants pulled up to his knees. jisung is wheezing in the background, occasionally saying encouraging things to him as he perches himself on top of the counter.

 **hyuwunjins**  
wow  
a runway model

 **hahanjisung**  
yes exactly

hyunjin switches his phone off, dropping it on the bed and humming to himself.

“what?” chan asks, cocking his head at him.  
“nothing. it’s nothing.”

hyunjin sits himself up, walking over to his bag and pulling out his jean jacket.

 

 

seungmin runs his fingers through his hair, looking at himself in the bathroom mirror. the red is a lot brighter than he anticipated, but it’s a nice change.

“seungmin, you gotta dress up for your lil date with hyunjin!” jisung calls in a baby voice from his bed in the other room. seungmin rolls his eyes.  
“man i should get minho to come, too,” he calls back, and he hears jisung sputter.  
“he’s probably still sleeping!”  
“at twelve o’clock? i think the fuck not, bitch.”

jisung threatens to hit him over the head, seungmin knows he won’t.

 

 

the sun is out, people are with their kids and some are with their friends. seungmin pulls his face mask further over his mouth before stuffing one of his hands into his back pocket as minho sorts out their entry tickets. jisung is standing next to him, punching him lightly in the arm that isn’t currently in a sling.

“ji, for fucks sake, stop it,” he whines, holding the other boy’s hand in place.  
“i’m just trying to cheer you up,” jisung reasons, a smile on his face.  
“i’m already happy!”  
“oh, but you’ll be _so_ much happier when hyunjin gets here, won’t you?” jisung’s voice is teasing.  
“listen, i told you about that last night, but i told you to not tease me about it!”  
“about what?”

they both turn around at the sound of a new voice. it’s hyunjin, face hidden away from the public with a mask and a cap pulling his hair out of his face. chan is trailing behind him, looking a little more tired.

“uh, n-nothing!” seungmin stutters, and steps on jisung’s toe before he can say anything.

jisung yelps in pain, hyunjin laughs and minho returns with three tickets and wristbands, not knowing why jisung is whining, ‘ow’, at seungmin.

 

 

seungmin thinks his birthday goes well — _better_ than well, if he’s being honest — jisung and hyunjin are going against each other in archery, and he’s struggling to hold up the huge stuffed bear he won from the shooting game he played earlier in the day (one handed, might he add). chan is standing with him, adjusting the black silk bunny ears resting on top of his head as jisung yells when he gets a 9 pointer. hyunjin outmatches him by getting a bullseye.

they end up tying, and the lady running the stall only smiles and gives them both a prize.

seungmin gives both of them high fives.

they end up staying until the sun sets, and hyunjin gently drags seungmin by the good arm towards the ferris wheel at the heart of the amusement park. they had given all their things to jisung and chan to look after before they had run off.

“hyunjin, my legs hurt,” seungmin giggles and hyunjin slows to a normal walking pace, turning and smiling at the younger boy.  
“ah sorry, seung, i just wanted to watch the sunset from all the way at the tippy top of the ferris wheel.” hyunjin stands on his toes and points to convince seungmin.

seungmin only laughs, and pulls him to the line, standing behind two little kids and their dad.

seungmin looks up at hyunjin. has he always been that tall?

hyunjin looks down at seungmin. he blinks.

seungmin is really cute.

“a-ah,” seungmin stutters, looking down at his feet and fiddling with the fabric of his hoodie. hyunjin tilts his head, asking a silent question.

“you said i was cute…”

hyunjin mentally curses himself, he hates his habit of speaking his thoughts.

“b-but that’s not bad! i find it nice.” seungmin smiles up at him. hyunjin sighs in relief.

when seungmin sits on his side of the carriage, hyunjin sits opposite him, pulling his face mask and cap off, revealing bare face and freshly dyed blue black hair. seungmin fiddles with the fraying on his jeans, looking out the side of the carriage.

hyunjin opens his mouth. “how’s your head?”

seungmin blinks, reaches his hand up to brush his red bangs out of his face so hyunjin can see the stitches. they’re still sore, little splotches of red dotting the cut where it’s still healing. the skin is raw, stained pink from the alcohol they used to clean his wound and seungmin feels small under hyunjin’s observant gaze.

“it looks better than before, that’s good.”

seungmin nods.

they take pictures of each other for instagram, even pictures with each other just to please the fans. they tell stories of previous skating tournaments, and ones from their childhood. hyunjin grew up an only child, seungmin with an older sister, and he kinda feels bad when hyunjin looks uncomfortable while talking about the topic.

he stands, though he’s not supposed to — they’re almost at the top of the ferris wheel — and sits beside hyunjin, wrapping his arm around his shoulders and giving him the best hug he can with one arm.

“it’s okay! you’ve still got me, chan, jisung, renjun, mark, and all the others!”

hyunjin blinks at him.

he’s the sun shining down on a field of flowers.

hyunjin can’t help himself when he leans in and presses a soft kiss to seungmin’s forehead.

“may you be smiled upon.”

seungmin squeaks, a very unmanly noise, squeezing his eyes shut.

he looks up at hyunjin again, and the boy is scratching at the back of his neck, flushed pink under the harsh gold from the sunset. seungmin giggles at him, before they’re both bursting into laughter.

hyunjin is nice to hang out with.

“happy birthday, seung.”  
seungmin smiles. “thanks.”  
“i’ve got my tournament in a couple weeks, you watching?” hyunjin asks.  
“uh, duh, gotta see you smash it or i won’t count my win here worthy.”

hyunjin chuckles, “right. that’s right.”

seungmin ruffles his hair. “i know you’ll do great.”

“i sure hope so.”

 

 

hyunjin’s latest instagram post has shippers going off in the comments. it’s three photos, one of him, one of seungmin, and one of the two of them in the ferris wheel, and it looks like they’re on a date.

 **hhan_ji** i made the right decision to not join you two on that thing lmAO  
 **skizlovebot** THEY’RE DATING IM T E L L I N G YOU  
 **s.eunghwaaa** cuties!!  
 **officialseungmin_kim** wOW MY DADS  
 **bangchan_** so you two abandon us and go off on your own little date? i see how it is  
 **h.xyunjins** @bangchan_ chan nO

hyunjin laughs at the people who are theorising that he and seungmin are dating, but it’s out of endearment.

he wouldn’t mind dating seungmin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI IM BACK AGAINNN UWU with a proper chapter lmao
> 
> this chapterwas fun but also stressful to write bc just _fucking date a l r e a d y_ but yknow oh well
> 
> anYWaYs i hope you liked this chapter!!! there's only going to be about six or so more chapters after this so prepare your heart, prepare your souls, prepare your minds, and prepare the snacks, bc its gon be a wILD ASS RIDE LMAO
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated !!! tell me what you think of this fic so far!!


	11. turn my mess into messages, learn from the lessons.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “okay, i know i told hyunjin to smash it in slovenia, but how the _fuck_ am i supposed to even _try_ to win in vancouver for the final if he’s getting over 100 for his _short_ program?” seungmin sputters around his spoon, a medium sized tub of vanilla ice cream cradled in his arms.

seungmin switches on the tv in the living room, seating himself in between woojin and jeongin and grabbing a wooden tray from under the coffee table to balance his breakfast on. woojin reaches up and brushes his bangs out of his eyes, running his thumb over his healing stitches with a feather light touch. seungmin hums, a silent question as to what woojin is doing. he takes a bite of his toast, switching the channel to the one broadcasting the junior grand prix in slovenia.

“i can’t believe you managed to injure your shoulder, sustain a head injury _and_ get a gold medal,” woojin sighs. jeongin hums in agreement.  
“seunghwa started crying when she watched it,” minho butts in from the armchair off to the side of the living room.

they had all had a big sleepover at seungmin’s house, dragging out spare mattresses and blankets and carrying the mountain of pillows seungmin has on his bed downstairs so they could all sleep in the same room. seungmin hums around his fork, more focussed on watching the skaters from each country competing be announced.

_“from korea, in the men's singles, hyunjin hwang.”_

seungmin unconsciously perks up at the sound of his name, and felix snickers from his place on a mattress on the floor. the boy has blue contacts in, is the first thing seungmin notices, then he notices the hint of a choker and a ruby red lace collar from under his team jacket. he bows ninety degrees to each side of the crowd, waving and smiling at the fans that scream his name.

seungmin crosses his fingers unconsciously.

“… _please_ win. please do it for me.”

 

 

hyunjin rolls his head, cracking his neck as he unzips his team jacket and pulls it off of his shoulders. chan grabs it from his hands, folding it over his arm as he watches hyunjin bend over to pull off his guards.

“you can do it, y’know,” chan encourages, “show ‘em everything you’ve got.”  
“you say that as if i never do,” hyunjin chuckles, and chan smiles.

he gets one more pat on the back before he’s off. it’s been a while since he’s been on the ice, competitively skating, and it feels good to be back, feels good to have everyone watching him. he looks down at his feet, fiddling with the cuffs of his shirt as he moves to the centre of the rink. he looks up, glances around the room, and smiles.

seungmin’s somewhere back in korea, watching him. he inhales deeply, filling his lungs with much needed air before he comes to a stop in the centre of the rink.

he huffs once more, looks up at chan for just a second, and positions himself to begin his short program.

 

 

seungmin exhales a breath he didn’t know he was holding when hyunjin lands his quad flip. the camera tracks the ravenette’s feet, catching every little piece of ice his skates shave off of the rink. he’s almost all the way through his program, and they all cheer when he perfectly bends into a biellmann spin.

seungmin smiles at the tv screen.

 

 

hyunjin sits himself down on the cushioned seat of the kiss and cry, chan plopping down right next to him with his jacket in hand. he runs his fingers through his hair, the long strands falling through his fingers like sand. he accepts the bottle of water chan offers him with a, ‘thanks’, and chan smiles at him.

“your short was great, i’m sure you’re gonna place first,” chan whispers, smiling.  
“thanks, coach.” hyunjin takes a sip of water as the official’s voice echoes through the stadium.

_“the scores for hyunjin hwang.”_

hyunjin exhales deeply, and rubs his hands together in his lap.

 **technical element score**  
46.9

 **program element score**  
55.63

 **deductions**  
0.00

 **total score**  
102.53

_“total score of 102.53. hyunjin hwang is now in first place.”_

he smirks, leaning back into the sofa as the stadium goes into a frenzy of applause and cheering. chan snorts, hitting his leg.

“you did good, bud. i’m proud,” chan says, before he leans in to whisper in his ear. “now all you have to do is place first in the free, and seungmin will count his win in china worthy.”  
“wow, great way to motivate me.”  
“you’re the one who’s hopelessly in love with him.” chan smiles.  
“ _you’re_ the one who’s hopelessly in love with woojin!” hyunjin fires back, and chan shuts his mouth.

hyunjin smiles. “don’t worry, i’ll get seungmin to put in a good word for you.”

a light wash of red finds its way across chan’s cheeks. hyunjin coos at him.

 

 

“okay, i know i told hyunjin to smash it in slovenia, but how the _fuck_ am i supposed to even _try_ to win in vancouver for the final if he’s getting over 100 for his _short_ program?” seungmin sputters around his spoon, a medium sized tub of vanilla ice cream cradled in his arms. woojin smiles softly.

jisung opens his mouth to speak. “well, you’ll just have to master your quad axel and set yourself a place in history.”

seungmin kicks him in the thigh, spooning another mouthful of ice cream into his mouth. “shut the fuck up, you crusty.”  
“you love me _so_ much.” jisung giggles, climbing onto the couch to cuddle up to his side. “hyunjin should be jealous.”  
“i’m pretty sure at this point he would choose hyunjin over you,” jeongin hums from the floor, pulling the blankets higher on his body.  
“jeongin’s probably right,” seunghwa pipes up.  
“fuck you if you do.” jisung narrows his eyes at seungmin. seungmin rolls his eyes.  
“i wouldn’t, why would i?”

_“…in second place, mark lee of canada and in first place, hyunjin hwang of korea.”_

“because you’re in love with him, dumbass,” jisung deadpans. seunghwa gasps.  
“he admitted it?”  
“yeah, when we were in the hospital. it was like quarter to one in the morning.”  
“ugh, don’t remind me,” seungmin groans, but his lips are tilting up.

“you’re whipped dude. i’m gonna get you two together at the final mark my fucking words,” jisung remarks.  
“pl _ease_ don’t, i’ve got enough to deal with around december what with graduation and shit.”

jisung smiles. “don’t count on it, baby.”

 

 

“to hyunjin’s short, and chan’s twenty-second birthday!”

the table is crowded, with friends and fellow skaters. hyunjin had forced chan into a birthday party hat and had laughed at him all through their ride to the restaurant. everyone at the table clinks their cups, before returning to their conversations.

“hyunjin, congrats again,” hansol, a skater from the usa, says to him from across the table in his heavily accented english.  
“thank you, it isn’t much.” hyunjin smiles.

chan is sitting beside hyunjin, scrolling through his instagram feed while he talks to mark across the table. he’s still wearing the shiny, sparkly party hat over long strands of black and silver hair. hyunjin thinks that he needs to get his hair rebleached and cut. he decides to get that organised when they’re back in australia.

“happy birthday! you’re old,” hyunjin teases playfully. chan rolls his eyes and sighs but his lips are tilted up into a smile.  
“you’re gonna be my age one day,” chan says.  
“ _yeah_ , but i’m sixteen right now. i’ve still got six more years to go.”  
“ah yes, and i’ll be twenty-eight when you get there.”  
“you were my age when i started training under you, remember?” hyunjin smiles.  
“oh yeah,” chan muses, “that’s right.”

 

 

_“hyunjin, come back here! god, it’s like looking after a child!”_

_momo giggles, watching as chan calls out to the boy zooming around the rink. “he _is_ a child, chan. he’s ten. it was your decision to go on hiatus from competitive skating to train us.”_

_chan sighs._

_“hyunjinnie! come back here, bud!”  
“no! i wanna skate more! i wanna compete!”  
“you _will _, but you won’t be able to if you keep zooming around the rink like that!”_

_that seems to do the trick; hyunjin comes dashing back to the side of the rink, with a big, playful grin on his face._

_“you’re a handful, kid,” chan whines. momo giggles again, reaching up to tie her hair back.  
“i’m ten!” hyunjin smiles.  
“yes, yes you are. do you have anything you wanna be when you grow up?”_

_hyunjin seems to ponder it for a second, before his face lights up like a lightbulb._

_“i wanna be a world champion figure skater, like you are!”_

_chan smiles. “you do you, kid.”_

 

 

“—and look at you now.” chan elbows him in the upper arm. “you’re a world champion figure skater, like you said you wanted to be.”

hyunjin smiles, fiddling with the tears in his jeans. “i guess.”  
“are you second guessing yourself because seungmin’s getting better and better at competing?” chan asks, the corner of his lips quirking up into a knowing smile.  
“well, uh, not exactly?”  
“well then, is it because you have a crush on him?”  
“uh.” hyunjin scratches the back of his neck, flushing red.  
“you do, don’t you?” chan presses on, and hyunjin is glad nobody else at the table is paying attention to them.

 

 

“yeah. yeah, i do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hyunjin finally admits it halle-fuckin-lujah
> 
> anyways!! im super tired and this was more a filler than anything but the next few chapters are gonna be fucking e v e n t f u l i'm just gonna tell you right now so pre p a r e your bodies
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated !! tell me what you think of the fic or just yell about the fic with me, either one is fine :'))


	12. and keep on, keep on, keep on.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “ji, if you take one more minute in there i’m leaving your ass in this damn store,” seungmin calls into the stall jisung is in.  
> “dude, my foot has gone through the rips in my jeans about four times now, give me a goddamn fucking break.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS BITCH LONG AND ITS UNEDITED SO IF THERE ARE MISTAKES THEN OOOF

**technical element score**  
82.12

 **program element score**  
87.46

 **deductions**  
0.00

 **total score**  
169.58

 **overall score**  
272.11

_“overall score of 272.11. hyunjin hwang is now in first place.”_

hyunjin pants, his lips curling into a tiny smile as he looks at the score. _so close_ , he thinks to himself, _so close to 300_. chan slaps him on the back like an old friend, and he laughs.

“wow, smashed it out the park, bud,” chan chuckles. “i’m really happy with that result.”

hyunjin stands, bowing to each side of the stadium and smiling brightly.

 

 

“ _272_? how the fuck am i supposed to— okay, i’m ready to forfeit the gold in the final. if anyone wants to take it from hyunjin, feel free to try!” seungmin calls into his bottle of water, voice echoing, loud and hollow. jisung snickers from beside him.

tv-hyunjin turns and smiles at the camera, scribbling his signature on the lens with a dry erase marker before turning to walk backstage, waving at the fans as he does so.

seungmin groans. vancouver is going to be a bitch.

 

 

**2018 GRAND PRIX FINAL — VANCOUVER, CANADA.**

seungmin cracks his knuckles, leaning his weight onto one foot as he waits for jisung to come out of the changing rooms. they have two days before the competition, and jisung had insisted on taking seungmin out into the city. seungmin is a kind hearted soul, so he agreed to the older boy.

“ji, if you take one more minute in there i’m leaving your ass in this damn store,” seungmin calls into the stall jisung is in.  
“dude, my foot has gone through the rips in my jeans about four times now, give me a goddamn fucking break.”

seungmin snorts. jisung emerges with an armful of ripped skinny jeans and hoodies.

“your fly is undone.”  
“oh, for fucks sake.”

seungmin pulls the sleeves of his hoodie down over his hands, mustard yellow contrasting with slightly tanned knuckles. the mall is busy, and kids are running around with each other, dashing in between tall adults and pillars. seungmin hasn’t been in canada in a long while, and he misses it. he looks around a bit more, stopping in front of another clothing store when something catches his eye.

it’s his name. and his face. on a poster. in a clothing store in canada.

he elbows jisung, pulls his mask higher on his face and drags the shorter boy into the store.

the lady working behind the counter recognises them almost instantly. seungmin waves to her, smiling from behind his mask. she gasps, but doesn’t fail to do her job of asking them if they’d like help with anything.

seungmin loves respectful people. he smiles, and thanks her.

 

 

hyunjin bends his back into a perfect ina bauer, his new short program routine burnt fresh in his mind. chan had gotten yugyeom, a close friend of his and a senior figure skater, to choreograph two new routines for hyunjin to perform at the finals. he bends over into an a-spin, before moving into a perfectly executed doughnut spin for his combination spin. chan's also changed his combination jump to a triple flip, quadruple lutz, and it fucks him up only a bit.

he wonders what seungmin has up his sleeve.

“good, hyunjin. you’ve got the new choreography pinned down.” chan smiles at him as he steps off of the rink.

hyunjin thinks practice wears him out more than the actual competition.

“uh huh, but we still don’t know what seungmin has up his sleeve,” hyunjin mumbles, dusting his sweats off.  
“don’t worry about it.” chan pats him on the back. “whatever it is, i’m sure it’ll be a fair fight between the two of you.”

hyunjin hums as a form of agreement, pulling his skate guards on.

“i’m not going to be upset if i get silver,” hyunjin says. chan blinks.  
“you’re not?”  
“no, because i should be happy for someone that i care for if they win.” hyunjin smiles.  
“ew, cheesy,” chan scoffs.  
“says the one that was staring in blatant awe at woojin that one time,” hyunjin fires back.

chan sighs. hyunjin opens his mouth again.

“seungmin said that woojin is here to watch the competition.”

hyunjin laughs when chan’s pierced ears seem to perk up at that.

“you seem excited,” hyunjin snickers, elbowing chan in the upper arm.  
“u-uh, n-no? w-why would you think that?”  
“you’re so cute. just ask him out already. i’m sure the fans will love him.”  
“i’ve talked to him a total of once. and it wasn’t even a proper conversation.”

hyunjin’s lips curl back into a smile, smug. chan raises an eyebrow. “hyunjin, what are you doing?”

hyunjin pulls his phone out of his pocket and brings up his contacts, tapping on seungmin. the boy picks up after a few moments.

 _“hey, hyunjin, what’s up?”_  
“seungmin, hey, is woojin there with you?”  
_“woojin? yeah, he’s here. why?”_  
“chan wants to talk to him.”

chan hits him on the upper arm. he snickers. seungmin lets out a knowing ‘ooohhhh’ from the other end of the line.

_“yeah, sure. lemme just go get him!”_

chan groans, hyunjin giggles. “i’m trying to get things going, coach. you’re just a lonely old man looking for love.”

chan doesn’t know how he put up with hyunjin until now.

 

 

minho crosses one of his legs over the other, leaning his chin against his knuckles as he watches seungmin run through his short program like an eagle hunting for prey. seungmin’s movements are calm yet sharp, his jumps are clean and fully rotated.

except for that triple axel. he managed to over-rotate it, somehow. minho narrows his eyes.

seungmin bends his leg perfectly into a y-spin. minho nods in thought.

when the red haired male finishes his routine and moves off to the side of the rink where chan is holding his hoodie and his skate guards.

“seung, you _over rotated_ your triple axel,” minho says, standing.  
“yeah, i know, what the fuck did i do?” seungmin pants, chuckling.  
“no, no… it’s just that—” minho seems to stop for a moment.

“if you had completed just another half a rotation, that would have been a quad axel. something someone has _never_ legitimately done before.”

seungmin stops in his tracks. “wait, really?”  
“yes. why do you think you came out of that jump going forwards?”  
“okay, i knew i fucked it up, but did i actually over rotate it?”  
“yeah,” chan says. “half a rotation more and you’re set in stone in history.”

seungmin silently curses himself, looking down at his feet.

“well, guess who’s going to have to practice in the span of three days?”

minho laughs.

 

 

_“representing korea in the junior men’s singles.”_

seungmin huffs, pulling his sleeves down over the palms of his hands. hyunjin is standing beside him, having his eye makeup being touched up by someone seungmin has never seen before. minho is fixing up his foundation before they’re going out onto the rink.

_“hyunjin hwang.”_

hyunjin pats seungmin on the arm, flashes him a pretty smile, before turning and making his way out into the eyes of the public.

seungmin is nervous. inc _redibly_ nervous. hyunjin is probably going to smash the short program, hyunjin is probably going to—

“stop stress noising into my face, it’s incredibly distracting. you’re gonna be _fine_ , seung,” minho says, pushing powder into the foundation he just layed down to set it in place.  
“i don’t know,” seungmin mumbles, “hyunjin is a way better skater than me—”  
“well, then you’ve just gotta show him that you’re willing to _try_.” minho dusts away the excess powder he just set down. “show him that the grand prix is _your_ competition. show him that you _deserve_ that gold.”

minho fixes his parting, fixes the one stray hair sitting out of its place. the scar from his stitches is very much there, very much prominent even through the layer of foundation he has on.

“show him—” minho steps back, admiring his work. brown eyeshadow seamlessly blending with reds and oranges and a hint of gold, a thin line of eyeliner elongating his almond eyes. “—that you _love_ and _adore_ your career more than him.”

_“seungmin kim.”_

chan strides up to him, pats him on the back, whispers to him under all of the screaming.

“i’ll be cheering for you as well, good luck.”

jinyoung cocks his head in confusion from beside him. seungmin gulps, before nodding and sprinting out into the public eye, a bright smile on his face. the cameras greet him warmly, all of them tracking his movements as he pulls his skate guards off and hands them to jinyoung, who’s walking up to him slowly.

seungmin smiles, a guy in the back row screams ‘i love you!’ at him. he laughs, points at the guy and nods.

moving on the ice is a lot easier now that his head injury is all healed up. he very quickly performs a triple toe loop, and the crowd screams and cheers as he bows and waves to each side of the room.

hyunjin smiles at him when he skates over, seungmin smiles back. “so, you gonna pull a slovenia on me and take my gold away?”  
“mm, i haven’t thought about that yet.” hyunjin smiles a little. “but who knows. game could go either way.”

they bow. seungmin feels the dull ache in his shoulder; he has to keep going to physical therapy.

when they move back to the edge of the rink, juniors following after seniors, hyunjin grabs the sleeve of seungmin’s jacket before he can make it back to jinyoung.

“huh? what’s up?” seungmin hums, turning to face him. the loudspeaker in the background announces the canadian team.  
“i— uh, good luck,” hyunjin fumbles over his words, scratching the back of his neck, the gold flecks of his glittery eyeshadow sparkle in the light hanging above them.

seungmin’s expression softens. he pats hyunjin’s meticulously styled hair.

“thanks, you too.”

their short program is at three. it’s eight. seungmin takes a sip out of his water bottle when jinyoung hands it to him.

“seungmin, how’s your shoulder?” jinyoung asks when seungmin sits down next to jisung, who’s loitering backstage once again.  
“it’s fine, doesn’t hurt too much.” seungmin moves his arm around in one full rotation to prove his point. it stings just the tiniest bit (okay, maybe a lot, but what jinyoung doesn’t know won’t kill him).

jinyoung nods, walks off for a sec to talk to a news reporter about the final. jisung leans against seungmin.

“i really hope you win,” he whispers. seungmin hums.  
“me too.”  
“but what if hyunjin wins?”  
“then i’ll be happy nonetheless. he deserves it as much as i do, maybe even more.”  
“after china? you deserve it way more, sorry.”

seungmin laughs airily, glancing over to hyunjin, who’s talking to momo before she walks off with chan.

“so, you’re not going to be mad if hyunjin wins?” jisung says again.  
“no— i’m not satan, you know?”  
“i beg to differ.”

seungmin punches him in the knee.

“you’d be great together, just saying.”  
“you’ve been saying that for months now.” seungmin crosses one leg over the other. the senior female’s skaters are being announced to compete.  
“it’s the truth, though. you’re really kind when you’re not trying to strangle me.”  
“of course _you’d_ think that.”

jisung elbows him in the side, rolls his eyes. seungmin doesn’t know what he’d do without him.

 

 

the junior men’s short programs are the last event for the day.

seungmin fiddles with the gloves in his hands, leaning his weight onto one foot. his outfit is the tiniest bit scratchy, itching against every point of direct contact it makes with his skin. he lets minho fix up his hair as renjun gets called to the rink.

“make the short program your bitch, and you’ll be fine,” minho says when he seungmin chews at his nails.  
“yeah, that’s helpful, ain’t it?”  
“it’s the best i got for ya.” minho bobby pins some of seungmin’s cherry red hair back, leaving the majority of it resting over his forehead.

seungmin is still chewing at his nails. jinyoung walks over to them.

“seungmin, are you nervous?” jinyoung asks as minho walks off to talk to jisung.  
“ _yes_? i’m against hyunjin, renjun, mark, fucking zhong chenle and eric sohn for god’s sake. of course i’m nervous!”  
“jisung told me, y’know.” jinyoung has a knowing smile on his face. seungmin blinks.  
“excuse me, _what_ did you just say? he told you about what?” seungmin has an inkling of an idea about what he’s talking about.  
“the hyunjin situation.”  
“i have no true friends, it’s been decided.”  
“i’m not mad, seung. nobody is. but you just have to tell him, and you’ll feel much better.”  
“i’m not sure rejection is a good feeling, coach.” seungmin rolls his eyes, still chewing at his nails as he watches renjun stepping onto the rink via the tv display backstage.

seungmin’s brain works like a bomb, jinyoung finds. make one wrong move, say one wrong thing, and you’re dead. so, jinyoung decides to stay quiet, instead looking at the red haired male with soft eyes. the shorter male is staring at the tv with a sharp gaze, blinking every so often when renjun lands his jumps, flawlessly pulls off his spin combination. he’s surely getting a high score.

93.65. not bad.

seungmin had managed to draw third out of the ballot of papers two days prior to the competition. he silently thanks whatever god blessed him for not being first or last. he watches renjun walking backstage, his team jacket hanging comfortably from his shoulders as he flashes everyone a smile. seungmin gives him a thumbs up, gives him a quick hug. chenle walks past them, a smile on his face as he also flashes renjun a small thumbs up.

“i think that’s the best i’ve ever done in my short,” renjun pants.  
“what a time to do it, too,” seungmin mumbles, pets renjun’s neat hair. “right at the final, when you need it.”  
“yeah, i’m just praying i place at least third in the short, since you and hyunjin are competing here as well.”  
“oh, honey, if i get even 90 for the short i’ll be glad.” seungmin laughs.  
“listen, if you don’t get at least 100, the entirety of vancouver is going to be shook.” renjun shakes his head.

seungmin smiles slightly. “i think it’ll be the entirety of the world.”

 

 

chenle scores high with a 91.74, but it’s still _just_ below renjun’s score. seungmin taps his skates against the vinyl flooring backstage, chewing at the nails on his right hand while fiddling with the material of his gloves.

_“and now we’ll have our third skater, seungmin kim from korea.”_

seungmin stands, walks over to jinyoung and nods at him as he pulls his gloves on and steps out into the public eye for the second time that day. the fans are cheering for him, he catches sight of a banner that reads “go kim seungmin!!” in the crowd, he pushes a single strand of his hair out of his eyes as he raises each leg to tug off his guards.

seungmin unzips his jacket, pulling it off of his shoulders to show off a tight fitting black jewelled lace top, splashed with red over his chest and lined down the sides of his waist. the little black bow tied around his neck is snug, black fading into red and just enough to have the teenage girls in the front row screaming. he adjusts his gloves as he steps onto the rink.

“seungmin, please don’t hurt yourself.” jinyoung grabs his wrist, looks at him with slightly worried eyes.

 

seungmin smiles, bright, cheery, full of life. “i won’t. i promise.”

 

jinyoung watches him push himself away from the edge of the rink, to the centre, where all attention lands on his figure, his movements, himhim _him_.

seungmin thinks he better suits the slower, more classical, style of music when he skates. which is why when minho had brought up the music he and chan had selected for both seungmin’s short and his free, seungmin had gnawed at his lip out of anxiousness.

the arena goes silent, his music kicks in, slow, steady. he turns, twists his body, leg movements sharp, arm movements sharper.

 _“are you sure about this? i’m not sure i’ll suit this type of music…” seungmin mumbles when the music for his short program stops playing._  
_“absolutely, seung. you’ve got to surprise the fans one way or another. why not change up your style of music?” minho says._  
_“because i suit classical more than— than— than this!”_  
_“seung, i think minho is right. plus, i’m sure your fangirls will enjoy the change.” jisung smirks. seungmin chews at his nails._

seungmin needs the extra points; he lifts his arms off of his chest and into the air when he vaults himself into a quadruple flip. the crowd applauds him, he cocks his head to the side, smirking for show. some girl in the back row screeches his name.

 

 

hyunjin watches the tv backstage with hawk-like eyes. the cameras track seungmin’s every move almost perfectly, catching the way he moves to the music. it’s unlike anything seungmin’s ever performed to; it’s powerful, it’s romantic, it’s redred _red_. seungmin’s aura in every other competition is calm, relaxed, with a hidden passion that shows in every jump of his, every spin. but here, oh _god_ , the passion is laid out for everyone to see, for everyone to bask in as seungmin lets his hips sway more than usual when he goes through his step sequence. he’s like a completely different person, like someone hyunjin’s never met before. he’s certainly _not_ the shy, timid, yet incredibly talented, boy hyunjin first watched at junior worlds two years ago.

seungmin lands his quadruple lutz with a little more force yet with all the grace he’s harnessed over the years and not even three seconds later he’s propelling into his combination spin, legs bending and back arching into a perfect biellmann spin before he switches over into a shotgun spin.

hyunjin exhales, eyes still trained on the screen.

seungmin ends, one palm splayed over his chest, his other arm thrown above as if shielding his face, thumb brushing his cheek.

everyone backstage goes into a frenzy. renjun is standing shocked beside hyunjin, chan is distracted from his interview— hell, even the interviewer is distracted. there are hushed whispers, loud cries of, “oh my _god_ , he did that!” (most coming from momo and sana). hyunjin is still entranced by the boy on screen, as he bends over to pull his skate guards on, as jinyoung wraps his jacket around his shoulders.

seungmin flashes the cameras a quick peace sign, poking his tongue out a bit before he’s being ushered off to the kiss and cry.

“holy. fuck,” hyunjin breathes.  
“…y-yeah, that’s about the reaction we’re all having right now,” renjun pipes up from beside him, taking a sip of his water.  
“that was so unlike seungmin,” momo squeals, from the bench in the background, “and i am _living_ for it!”

hyunjin is glad that momo is having fun, but good _lord_ — his mentality? suffering.

tv-seungmin sits, brushing his hair to the side, leaning down to redo his laces as jinyoung sits beside him, bowing at the cameras. he says something to someone sitting out of view of the camera, and when seungmin sits back up everyone cheers even louder.

hyunjin watches as seungmin’s eyes train on the screen he knows is in front of them.

_“scores for seungmin kim.”_

**technical element score**  
56.58

 **program element score**  
57.78

 **deductions**  
0.00

 **total score**  
114.36

_“total score of 114.36. seungmin kim is now in first place.”_

hyunjin has never seen backstage go into such a frenzy.

 

 

seungmin covers his mouth with his hands, looking at the screen in front of him with wide eyes and a racing heart.

“i told you minho never fails on making your choreography.” jinyoung gently elbows him in the arm.  
“and you never fail on choosing my music.”

 _114.36_. such a high fucking number. seungmin stands on shaky legs, bowing to each side of the arena and waving.

he gives a smirk, just for show. a girl in the front row screams, shakes her friend beside her.

 

 

when seungmin walks backstage, jinyoung following in behind him, everyone yells, cheers, jisung almost tackles him to the ground in a big hug.

“i knew minho was going to be right about your performance, i knew it, i knew it, i _knew_ it!” jisung giggles, nuzzling into the taller boy’s neck.  
“well, that was the most traumatic experience i’ve ever had,” seungmin deadpans, patting jisung’s waist.  
“why?” momo asks, resting her hand on his shoulder. “that was amazing!”  
“because i’m not used to that kind of skating. i skate to classical music for god’s sake.”  
“it was a nice change up,” hyunjin says from the other side of momo, smiling.

seungmin’s breathing hitches for a second. hyunjin’s face is flushed a pretty shade of peach, matching his pale pinkish-orange and yellow eye makeup. his midnight hair is neatly fanned over his forehead, and because his team jacket isn’t zipped all the way up, seungmin can see the hint of a white top with gold flecks adorning the collar.

“still the most traumatic thing i’ve ever done— okay, jisung, you’re really fucking heavy, so can you please just get off— ah!”

everyone laughs when jisung pinches seungmin’s waist.

 

 

hyunjin fixes the collar of his outfit, moving into the centre of the rink and halting himself. the fabric is kinda scratchy against his throat, and he silently thanks the gods he doesn’t have long sleeves down to the wrist because _wow_ this is kind of uncomfortable. he looks like a prince that came straight out of a disney movie; his collar looks like that of a boys high school uniform, and the peach and gold waistcoat he has on overtop adds a certain flair to it.

the crowd goes quiet, he drums his fingers against his thigh as he waits for his music to begin.

 

 

seungmin gets back from the bathroom just in time to catch hyunjin landing his triple flip, quad lutz combination. hyunjin’s music is soothing, not quite classical, not quite jazzy, or fun. his moves are incredibly relaxed, flowy, and the smile he has on his face when he moves into his step sequence makes seungmin’s stomach flip. momo walks up to him, smiling at him like he’s an old friend even though he is an amateur and she is a world champion and they’ve barely talked.

“hey, hyunjin’s good, right?” momo asks him all of a sudden. he nods.  
“yeah… yeah, he is.”  
“do you see how his fingers are pointed like that when he turns? how his facial expressions are trained to be so calm even as he’s going into a jump?”  
“yeah?” why is she telling him this?  
“he learnt to be like that because you were like that, you know?”  
“he— he did?”  
“mhmm! chan thought it was interesting. one day, out of the blue, hyunjin started pointing his fingers much like a ballet dancer, and chan said it actually improved the look of his performance by a lot. because he looks so graceful doing it.”

seungmin watches hyunjin perform a death drop into a sit spin with a twist, his right arm extended into the air, fingers pointed just like momo had said.

“he did it because of me? there’s been a lot of other skaters who have done it before. it’s not like it’s new or anything.”  
“chan never taught him to be as graceful as you always have been because he used to skate to fierce songs, showing off everything he had. he always said he would never be like me, would never need to be ‘graceful like i am’. then when he saw you at worlds for the first time, you looked like a swan; you were graceful, elegant, something hyunjin had never seen before.”

hyunjin comes to an abrupt stop on screen; his short program is over. the cheering is so loud it reaches seungmin’s ears even though he’s backstage.

seungmin fiddles with the material of his pants, watching hyunjin flashing a playful smile at chan as he steps off the rink. he doesn’t know what to say. so, if he’s interpreting this correctly — he’s like, eighty-seven percent sure he’s not — hyunjin is only as graceful, as relaxed, as _beautiful_ as he is now because of _him_? hold on— the dots don’t line up, at least not in seungmin’s mind they don’t.

the cameras switch to hyunjin sitting down at the kiss and cry, draping his jacket over his lap and giving the cameras a bright smile and a v. hyunjin was the sixth skater, the last skater for the men’s singles. seungmin swallows down a mouthful of water and sits down in between renjun and jisung.

_“scores for hyunjin hwang.”_

**technical element score**  
53.83

 **program element score**  
54.84

 **deductions**  
0.00

 **total score**  
108.67

_“total score of 108.67. hyunjin hwang is now in second place.”_

the crowd cheers, applauds him. seungmin releases a shaky breath; he’s managed to stay in first for now, but who knows which way the free’s gonna go.

“seung, you did it! you’re in first!” jisung smiles, giving him a high five. seungmin laughs airily, eyes folding up into crescents.  
“i did, i really did.”  
“you actually have a chance at winning four years in a row!”

**junior men’s singles results**

**1.** seungmin kim — korea **114.36**  
**2.** hyunjin hwang — korea **108.67**  
**3.** mark lee — canada **99.45**  
**4.** renjun huang — china **93.65**  
**5.** eric sohn — usa **93.12**  
**6.** chenle zhong — china **91.74**

hyunjin comes backstage, holding onto chan for support because he’s laughing so hard.

“what— why are you laughing so hard?” jisung asks, as hyunjin stops in front of them.  
“i-i fucking fell whi-while walking back.” hyunjin is wheezing, and he squats down to try and contain it, his shoulders shaking.  
seungmin snorts, rolling his eyes. “don’t start crying, clumsy, you’ll ruin your makeup.”

hyunjin is still laughing. chan shakes his head, but he’s chuckling.

momo kneels down on one knee beside him and wraps one arm around the back of his neck, the other going to noogie the crown of his head. seungmin understands why he said it’d be great to be best friends with her, even if only for one day.

 

 

seungmin gets back to his hotel room at around midnight; the events from the day and the dinner he went to with hyunjin and co completely drained him of energy, so he sets down his things before flopping into bed.

“my feet are so fucking sore,” he mumbles into his pillows, before slowly sitting up. he’s tempted to just sleep right then and there, but he’s still got a full face of makeup on, and falling asleep with it on would surely cause acne and he’s not about to have it. he flicks on the light to the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror.

his hair is still pinned back in place by four gold bobby pins, his dark eye makeup and fading lip tint still intact even after all of the day’s events.

he still looks like a mess though. and he smells like sweat. gross.

 

 

seungmin orders in room service by the time it gets to one in the morning, feeling more awake after a half an hour long shower. the lady looks at him kind of questioningly when he opens the door, but doesn’t say anything other than, “here is your room service, sir”, before leaving.

he’s halfway through his second slice of pizza when his phone dings. hyunjin.

 **it’s free real estate**  
— are you still awake?  
— not gonna count on it since its like half past 1  
— but i just wanted to say thank you and congrats  
— for everything today :))

 **kermit suicide**  
— aah  
— no its ok!!  
— congrats to u too dude your short was great

 **it’s free real estate**  
— not compared to yours, it wasnt  
— hyunjin the junior world champion??? sorry i dont know her  
— i only know seungmin the junior world champion

seungmin smiles very slightly around the pizza in his mouth, his cheeks heating up.

 **kermit suicide**  
— nO WHA T  
— i could never be a world champion kjdnksj

it takes hyunjin a couple of minutes to reply; seungmin switches apps and does something else while he waits so it doesn’t look like he’s eagerly awaiting hyunjin’s response.

his phone dings twice.

 **it’s free real estate**  
— well  
— you’ll always be my world champion anyways so i guess it doesn’t matter

seungmin can feel his cheeks heating up even more, and he drops his phone in favor of hiding his face in his hands, almost embarrassed.

stupid hyunjin, stupid flirt. seungmin replies with a simple.

 **kermit suicide**  
— i dont know what to say but thanks???? i guess???

seungmin shuts off his phone, throwing himself back into his pillows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM BACK FINALLY LOLOL
> 
> im on holidays rn so i have more time to work on this so uh maybe regular updates from now on??? idk lolol
> 
> also, in case you wanted to know what i meant by "minho bobby pins some of seungmin’s cherry red hair back, leaving the majority of it resting over his forehead." i mean this;
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated!!! tell me what you think of this fic in the comments!!!


	13. all of the fears, taste of the sweat and dirt.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jinyoung doesn’t say anything when he makes it back to the side of the rink. instead, he’s looking at seungmin like he’s just witnessed him murder someone. seungmin feels nervous, small, under his gaze. did he do something wrong?
> 
> “uh… jinyoung?” seungmin asks, wary, slipping his red and blue skate guards on over his blades. “are you… alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah yes, another chapter longer than the timespan i want to live

seungmin winces when his knees and hands come into contact with the ice, skidding across the rink until he gently bumps into the rink wall. his ankles are sore, legs trembling as he gets up again. jisung skates over and crushes him in a hug.

“you can do it! don’t let your nerves get in the way!” jisung cheers, squeezing him.

the public skating centre isn’t very packed, more people are holed up in their homes to watch the second day of the finals. his free is tomorrow so he’d decided to go to the skating centre with jisung to get some practice in.

“i’m not sure i can do it,” seungmin sighs, leaning over to dust shredded ice off of the blades of his skates. “it requires a high amount of speed, balance, concentration and stamina, and i need to stay as tight as possible so i don’t slow myself down midair.”  
“but think about it, seung,” jisung says, releasing him. “you’re _half a rotation_ away from doing it.”

seungmin smiles slightly, pets jisung’s head of hair, the purple and pink strands slowly but surely fading back to blonde.

“whatever you say, ji.”

seungmin moves away from jisung, dusting ice off of the black material of his sweats and glancing at the group of girls on the other side of the rink struggling to stay upright on the ice, giggling and laughing at one another. seungmin hums to himself, chuckles.

he can’t believe that only three years ago, that was him and jisung, struggling to stay upright while moving to set choreography.

he has to keep practicing; his triple axel is both in the first half of his program and the second jump in his combination in the second half of his program.

 

 

seungmin falls, and falls, and fallsfalls _falls_ over and over again. his wrists are sore from landing on them with all his weight, his ankles are in pain and his chest is heaving from the effort of trying. he’s been there at least three hours, repeating the same jump over and over and _over_ again, trying to get it right.

“fucking bullshit ass fucking jump,” he groans from the floor. jisung skids to a stop beside him, crouching down, playing with seungmin’s fingers.  
“are you okay?” he asks, softly, no teasing tone in his voice. he looks tired.  
“no? i should just stick to a triple axel, maybe a double with the state my ankles are in at this point.”  
“who knows? you could land it by chance sometime? you just have to believe in yourself, not in the fact that you’ll succeed eventually.”

seungmin blinks. jisung somehow always gives solid advice when he’s not being a complete dumbass.

“y’know, whatever. i’ll teach you some shit. just get my mind off of this stupid jump before i neck.”

jisung laughs, moves back to let seungmin get up. “so, coach, what are we doing?”

“first of all, we _have_ to fix that janky ass fuckin’ quad lutz of yours before you’re going into _any_ sort of international comp.”  
“that was a personal fucking attack, fuck you.”  
“love you too.”

 

 

the entrance is crowded heavily with fans and reporters. seungmin walks by peacefully, earbuds in and mask pulled over his face, half of his body being covered by the bodyguards trailing beside him. he’s got a full face on again, glittery gold eyeshadow and bright red fading into peach and minho had warned him to wear a looser mask so “there won’t be any fucking marks in your foundation”. he waves to the cameras once while jisung tugs at his sleeve to get him to slow his walking pace a little.

when he gets to the locker rooms hyunjin is already there, talking to mark.

“ah, seungmin!” mark smiles, waving. seungmin smiles back, flushing slightly under hyunjin’s gaze.

hyunjin’s hair is parted out of his face, eyeshadow peachy orange, eyes bright, round, blue. seungmin is surprised; he’s wearing contacts for once.

“you ready for today?” hyunjin asks when mark drifts off to talk to eric.  
“of course.” seungmin sits on the bench in the locker room, toeing off his vans and rummaging through his bag for his ankle compression sleeve.  
“i hope your free is as good as your short,” hyunjin breathes, tapping his skates against the vinyl flooring, yellow skate guards on black blades.  
“oh, boy,” seungmin scoffs, pulling the compression sleeve over his right foot. “you’re not even ready for it.”

hyunjin raises an eyebrow, smirks, almost challenging. “is that so?”

seungmin slips his foot into his skate, wiggling his toes, like he’s cinderella fitting her glass shoe, before he starts lacing it up.

“it is,” seungmin challenges back.

hyunjin scoffs.

 

 

the gold sits high on momo’s shoulders when she finishes her long program with a whopping 205.12 and, when added to her short program, totals to 320.64 as her overall score. hyunjin tackles her in a hug when she comes backstage with chan, and seungmin gives her a gentle hug to congratulate her.

“look at my talented best friend.” hyunjin smiles, high-fiving her.  
“ah, hyunjinnie.” she pushes his shoulder, giggling.

seungmin thinks they look great together.

when seungmin turns to find jinyoung, he sees the male talking to someone else, a man about his height, a backwards cap over his brown hair, a mustard yellow hoodie thrown on top of a pair of blue denim jeans. seungmin narrows his eyes a bit, before he sees jinyoung roll his eyes, about as comfortable as he can get in a crowded space. the man presses a kiss to jinyoung’s cheek, and seungmin’s mouth drops open in an ‘oh’ shape.

“seungmin?” he turns when someone calls his name, eyes wide in confusion.

it’s hyunjin, looking at him confused.

“hm?”  
“what were you looking at?”  
“ah, it’s nothing.” seungmin brushes it off with an easy smile.

he jumps out of surprise when there are hands on his shoulders and a head of brunette hair brushing against his jaw. it’s woojin; seungmin can tell instantly from his cologne. the hands wrap around him fully, trapping his arms against his sides.

“oh, woojin! you’re here!” hyunjin blinks, before he darts his head around the room, searching through a small crowd of skaters, coaches, reporters, those of the sort.  
“yes, i’m here.” woojin smiles, before he leans into seungmin’s ear to ask, “why is he looking like that?”  
“i… have a hunch,” seungmin hums, watching the raven haired boy in front of him.  
“ah! there he is.” hyunjin smiles, slipping away from the group for a moment.  
“aannddd now we wait,” seungmin says, letting minho fuss over his hair.

it doesn’t take long for hyunjin to return, dragging chan along with him.

“i knew it.” seungmin shakes his head.  
“here you go, coach! seungmin and i have to go discuss something really quickly so just stay here with woojin!”

before seungmin can either argue or agree, he’s being dragged off to where momo is talking to kyulkyung and somi. momo glances between the two of them, then over at chan and co, and she makes a noise of realisation.

“hyunjin the matchmaker back again.” she giggles.  
“you know it.” hyunjin gives her finger guns with his right hand.

seungmin is still painfully aware of hyunjin’s hand gently wrapped around his wrist. he doesn’t bring it up.

 

 

hyunjin smiles brightly at chan when he hands him his guards. chan face is flushed fuschia pink, but he only coughs and gives hyunjin a nod before the boy is on the rink and the crowd is applauding him. he breathes in, breathes out, shaking his hands, stretching his fingers wide then clamping them into fists. he’s the second last skater for the day, since he had placed second in the short program.

his movements are slow when he starts, calm, rehearsed to a point. everyone’s attention is on him, his body, his program, himhim _him_. it’s exhilarating; the attention, the rush of adrenaline thrumming through his veins as he prepares himself for his first jump, just as his music spikes in tempo.

he goes into it without so much as a second thought. triple lutz. he lands elegantly, fingers pointed, free leg hoisted high in the air for balance.

the arena is a blur of colours; blues blend with whites and reds blend with blacks. it disorientates him a little bit, but he pushes it to the back of his mind.

quadruple toe loop. half biellmann spin. triple axel. quadruple lutz.

he pulls them all off without a hitch, his piercings brushing against his jaw every time he turns his head.

the timer ticks over the three minute mark. he has one more minute to pull out his step sequence and his combination jump.

 

 

seungmin redoes the laces of his skates, the led lights above him reflecting off of the gold of his blades. minho and jisung are kicking around a ball they found in a storage box, and jinyoung is sitting beside him, talking to someone on the phone. he’s the last skater of the day, and when he hears the ear piercing applause echoing from a couple of hallways down, he smiles. hyunjin must have finished pretty strong.

seungmin looks up at the tv display in front of him, watching as tv-hyunjin throws himself into the cushions of the kiss and cry with a huff, his face red and sweat dripping from his bangs.

 **technical element score**  
90.12

 **program element score**  
90.73

 **deductions**  
0.00

 **total score**  
180.85

 **overall score**  
289.52

_“overall score of 289.52. hyunjin hwang is now in first place.”_

seungmin’s jaw drops. _289.52_. how on fucking earth does he do it? seungmin remembers just a year ago at the final he won first with a score of 259.78, but now he’s competing against hyunjin, against a score of 289.52, against a _world champion_.

hyunjin comes backstage with a spring in his step and a smile on his pretty face. momo congratulates him by dragging him down to her height and noogie-ing his head. seungmin stands off to the side with woojin, jinyoung and minho, making small talk before he’s going to be announced to skate.

_“and now our final skater in the junior men’s singles, seungmin kim.”_

minho and woojin pat him on the back, wishing him luck as he pulls his gloves on and begins to make his way to the rink with jinyoung.

he’s stopped by a hand on his wrist and when he turns hyunjin is there, smiling at him and all of a sudden there are long arms around his waist and hyunjin is whispering in his ear.

“good luck.”

seungmin smiles.

“thanks.”

 

 

music is nonexistent in seungmin’s ears when he skates. he’s heard the track replayed over, and over, and over again, blaring through speakers, echoing in empty rooms. he’s heard it enough to know how to move to it and when. his transitions are smooth, seamless, his jumps powerful, passionate.

there’s this certain flair to his fingers, to his gaze when he moves into his step sequence. the timer ticks over the two minute mark.

pain pierces through his ankles like he’s got severe pins and needles, he arches his back into a beautiful ina bauer, the crowd applauds him. he really should not have spent so long trying to achieve something no one’s ever achieved before; he’s sure he’s going to have some intense bruising afterwards.

he snaps his fingers, squatting down to go into a sit spin with a twist. his outfit is less scratchy than the other one, with gold running down his sleeves and tiny diamonds littering his chest; it lets him move with a little more grace, a little more passion. the sit spin eventually evolves into his signature biellmann spin, his dainty fingers hooking around the blade of his skate, black gloves against gold metal, matching the rest of his attire.

his long program music is the tiniest bit less intense as his short program. if seungmin were to give it a colour, he’d definitely choose jacinthe — a beautiful, bright shade of orange — compared to his short program, which he would describe as ruby red, passionate, seductive.

he flies out of his combination spin like it’s nothing, his long legs easily, naturally, gracefully following a pattern carved by days, weeks, _months_ of training.

he has three more jumps to go, two of which are in his combination.

 _logically_ , he thinks to himself as he prepares for his quadruple lutz, _there’s no way i’m going to be able to garner enough speed to complete both my lutz and even attempt a quad axel_.

he stabs his toe pick into the ice, launching himself into a perfect quad lutz. his free leg is high, almost too high, but he makes do.

seungmin’s always been the type of person to make plans, then change them around last minute.

his toe pick chips a big chunk of ice away again as he lands a quadruple flip with elegant ease, arms raised above his head before they come out to the sides for balance, fingers pointed like how his ballet teacher had taught him. his footsteps are trained, perfected to a point, and he finds his body accelerating at an increasing speed before his skates skid across the rink for a mere moment and suddenly he’s gliding backwards, fading cherry hair flying in his eyes as he lifts one of his legs slightly in front of the other and turns to look behind him, to check that he won’t smash into the barrier around the rink.

and suddenly he twists his body, still going at an alarmingly high speed, throwing his right leg forward and vaulting his fatigued body into his triple axel. he definitely feels like he’s going faster than usual. the world’s a messy blur of a multitude of colours as he presses his arms tighter against his sides, his chest, and he pulls his legs together even closer together. it always feels like he’s in slow motion when he’s in the air, up until he hits the ice again, and his ankle wobbles, unstable, but he lands nonetheless, torso closer to the ground that he’s comfortable with, and the timer ticks over the three minute forty-five mark.

he’s got fifteen seconds left. he moves with a newfound fervor like he was born to be on the ice, arms swaying almost petitely by his sides.

his final scratch spin goes as fast as it comes and he halts himself in the center of the rink, one arm bent by his side, brushing his waist, the other across his face, brushing against his sweat soaked bangs.

the crowd is going abso _lutely_ crazy, screaming and cheering for him even as he sinks to his knees out of exhaustion, panting so loud it’s almost all he can hear, aside from his pounding heartbeat.

when he stands, his legs are as shaky as ever, and he bows ninety degrees to each side of the room, one of his legs crossing behind the other.

jinyoung doesn’t say anything when he makes it back to the side of the rink. instead, he’s looking at seungmin like he’s just witnessed him murder someone. seungmin feels nervous, small, under his gaze. did he do something wrong?

“uh… jinyoung?” seungmin asks, wary, slipping his red and blue skate guards on over his blades. “are you… alright?”

jinyoung seems to snap out of his reverie, shaking his head a bit, before passing seungmin his jacket and a water bottle.

“a-ah… sorry, i just… you— nevermind.”

seungmin cocks his head to the side, furrowing his brows, but doesn’t comment on it as they make their way to the kiss and cry.

_“the scores for seungmin kim.”_

seungmin exhales a deep breath of air, crossing one of his legs over the other and sipping from his water bottle, eyes trained on the screen in front of him.

 **technical element score**  
92.12

 **program element score**  
87.75

 **deductions**  
0.00

 **total score**  
179.87

 **overall score**  
294.23

_“overall score of 294.23. seungmin kim is now in first place.”_

seungmin chokes on his water, to say the least.

he buries his face in his hands, peeking between gloved fingers to look at the screen again.

“294.23?! what—” seungmin gasps, still panting, sweat dripping from his hair, from his eyelashes.

jinyoung grabs his knee, squeezing.

“that quadruple axel really was _something_ , seung.”

wait, what?

 

 

seungmin is about as used to jisung’s hugs as he is to his stupid antics, but this time jisung really does tackle him to the ground in a bone crushing hug.

“i knew you’d fucking do it, i knew it, i knew it, i _knew_ it!” jisung laughs, as seungmin groans from his tailbone hitting the vinyl floor. “the moment your leg left that fucking ice i knew it’d happen!”

they’re still on the floor when hyunjin, renjun and momo walk over as hurriedly as they can without falling, their eyes lit up with excitement.

“seungmin…” hyunjin mumbles with a smile, reaching out his hands to the red haired boy and pulling him back up to his feet.

hyunjin is gazing at him like he hung the stars up in the sky, his mouth open and eyes sparkling in… admiration? seungmin clears his throat, scratching the back of his neck, swinging his leg back and forth.

“y-you landed it?”

_“oh my god, kevin, did you see that? if that’s what i think it was, then we’ve got a new skater to look out for extra closely!”_

the display backstage shows a replay of seungmin’s final jump, his switched-out axel, and— oh. oh yeah, he’s definitely going a lot faster than he normally does. the video slows down when he lifts himself into the air, and seungmin narrows his eyes.

one. two. three. four—

oh.

he did, he really did.

_“oh wow, cathy, he did really land it! i think we just witnessed a history making event.”_

seungmin feels arms being thrown around him, jisung’s distinct cologne piercing his nose mixed with hyunjin’s and renjun’s and it’s a mess, it’s loud.

but would seungmin have it any other way? he doesn’t think so.

 

 

when seungmin jumps up onto the podium, he smiles and waves, bows as the audience applauds him. hyunjin pats the small of his back, and renjun elbows him in the thigh; he’s glad he can share the podium with people he’s close with.

the medal is heavy around his neck, and the small bouquet of flowers he’s given smell incredibly sweet. dashes of coreopsis, blotches of zinnia, streaks of daffodils and coral peonies.

his smile stretches wide across his features, and hyunjin and renjun jumps up onto the first place podium when seungmin tugs at their sleeves. seungmin is sure his cheeks are going to ache afterwards from smiling so much, but when throws his arms around hyunjin and renjun’s necks and tugs their heads closer, he guesses it’ll be fine.

“congratulations, guys!” seungmin giggles, letting them go.  
“ _we_ should be the ones congratulating _you _.” renjun pouts at him.__  
“well, it wouldn’t be very good sportsmanship if i didn’t congratulate you two for placing. you especially, hyunjin.”  
“ah, me?” hyunjin asks, as they each step off of the podium. seungmin waves and bows to the audience.  
“yeah,” seungmin breathes, stepping up off of the rink, turning to him with a soft smile on his face. “it _is_ your first grand prix, after all.”

____

hyunjin scoffs, slips his guards on. 

“sure.” 

__

__

seungmin sips his drink, eyes trained on the phone in his hand. his kakao is blowing up with messages from back home, felix freaking out, changbin congratulating him. 

**australia**  
you landed a q u a d a x e l we love a king 

**kermit suicide**  
bow down to me peasants 

**dame tu cosita guy**  
i’m in the middle of talking with minho at the buffet table i cant bow down to you 

**jeongdone**  
wow priorities jisung 

**tired drunk**  
i am a priority over all you fucks  
except for you jeongin ily 

_**mother**  
wow what a way to enter the conversation_

**kermit suicide**  
all of you get fucked except for woojin and jeongin  
and felix  
felix is cool 

**australia**  
Y E S 

**binnie binnie**  
what did i ever do to u 

**kermit suicide**  
exist  
now if yall will excuse me 

**binnie binnie**  
r U D E 

**kermit suicide**  
ive got a glass of champagne in my hand and it wants to be downed so bye bitches 

**mother**  
i swear to fucking god seungmin if you drink that champagne 

seungmin laughs to himself, switching off his phone and looking around. both junior and senior skaters are present, and so the ceilings of the hall stretch high above them, running a long way before it meets its end on the other side of the room. it’s a lot more packed than the other after parties, but seungmin is used to it. he’s also used to jae sauntering up to him with brian and someone seungmin knows as bambam. 

“hey, how’s the star of the show?” brian asks, throwing an arm around seungmin’s shoulders and smiling at him.  
“ah, i’m not…”  
“of course you are, dude! you _landed_ a quad axel; do you know how cool that is?” jae says, sipping his drink.  
“i’ve been training to do that for seven years now and i still can’t do it, and you’re out here, a whole sixteen years young, landing it.” bambam makes a motion with his hands, and seungmin laughs shyly.  
“also, you and hyunjin are really cute together, when’s the marriage?” jae asks, eyeing seungmin up and down. seungmin flushes bright red, cheeks almost matching his hair.  
“u-uh, i— uh, w-we aren’t even dating!” seungmin sputters, the champagne in his glass sloshing around, some of it trickling down the side of the glass and over his finger from his movements.  
“you aren’t? that’s a shame,” jae sulks, brushing his toned silver hair out of his eyes. “i started dating brian when we were both junior skaters. we were sworn enemies, you know? we both went to the same elementary school in korea when our parents lived there, and we hated each other to death.” 

brian chuckles, a hearty noise, his raven hair falls into his eyes. “and then you moved abroad to la, me to vancouver, and we met each other again at our first grand prix.” 

seungmin breathes out a sigh, but it isn’t an exasperated one. he smiles; they’re so incredibly in love. 

“and _then_ you tripped and spilt your wine on my shirt at the after party at the final.” jae laughs.  
“oh _god_ don’t remind me,” brian groans, dragging his palm down his face. “i’m so glad you’ve retired so you can’t embarrass me in front of everyone at the comp.” 

seungmin laughs airily. another arm wraps around his shoulders from his other side and he doesn’t have to look to tell that it’s jisung. 

“hey, what’s up?” jisung asks, sipping his punch.  
“the ceiling, your ego, my grades in my online classes, nothing new.”  
“okay, fuck you.”  
“love you too.” 

jae laughs, so does brian. 

“so, what were y'all talking about?” jisung asks, standing up straight again.  
“hyunjin. and seungmin. and jae thought they were dating,” brian deadpans.  
“everyone thinks they’re dating, don’t worry. speaking of, seungmin, hyunjin is right over there, go ask him out you fucking coward.”  
“n-no!” seungmin exclaims. 

jae and brian get called over by mark tuan, a senior figure skater from the usa. they bid their goodbyes, and make their way across the room to the blonde. 

“oh, come _on_ , seung. we’ve been painfully watching you and him fluttering around each other like oblivious idiots. you’re _more_ than just in love with him.” jisung frowns.  
seungmin downs the rest of his champagne, the sour tang leaving a sweet aftertaste. he’s sure that both his stomach and his head are going to hate him by the morning. 

“jisung, stop.” 

“why? _you’re_ the one being irrational about your feelings.”  
“me? irrational?” seungmin scoffs, shoving the lump in his throat to the bottom of his stomach. “says the one trying to force me to do something i don’t want to. what a _great_ best friend you are.” 

seungmin is vaguely aware of the eyes that are slowly drifting towards the two of them. he silently prays hyunjin doesn’t see any of this. 

“ _i’m_ just trying to help _you_ out, you ungrateful asshole.” 

and ow, yeah, that hurts. 

“how am i the ungrateful asshole? you have _no_ idea how i feel, so i wish that you’d just stay out of it, even if you are my ‘best friend’.” seungmin sets down his glass, making air quotations with his fingers. it’s taking him so much willpower to not slap jisung across the face.  
“ _you’re_ the ungrateful asshole because _you_ won’t accept the fact that you love him.”  
“jisung, i do. i just _don’t_ want to tell him because i don’t want to ruin our friendship.” 

seungmin’s voice breaks, he becomes softer. “so please, just fucking stop this shit.” 

jisung frowns even further, presses his index finger against seungmin’s chest almost accusingly. 

“you. don’t. truly. love. him.” with every word, jisung jabs his finger right into seungmin’s sternum, voice strong, nothing like the jisung seungmin knows. 

they’ve never fought. well, to be more correct they’ve never fought and… not made up? seungmin doesn’t know what to call it. but this? this hits every single sensitive point in his heart, in that fragile little thing he’s spent sixteen years protecting. jisung _knows_ exactly what hurts him, knows exactly what someone can say, can do, to make him feel like utter shit. 

“ _i’m_ not the one who’s fucking assuming things that are completely fucking wrong!” seungmin yells, finally, catching the attention of everyone in the room. 

it’s gone dead silent aside from the music playing softly in the background. seungmin’s throat is dry and he can’t even bring himself to feel bad when he looks up from the floor into jisung’s eyes and sees them wide, innocent, scared. tears form at the back of his eyes, the tips of his fingers tingling and the tip of his nose stinging. 

out of the corner of his eye, he can see hyunjin, with momo and jinyoung, watching him with wide eyes. 

before jisung can open his mouth to retaliate, seungmin shoves him out of the way to get to the double doors leading to the exit of the venue. 

jisung grabs his wrist, tries to tug him back. “seung—” 

seungmin shakes him off. “fuck off, jisung.” 

the deafening noise of seungmin slamming the door shut rings through the hall. skaters are whispering to each other, questioning what just happened. hyunjin frowns, sets down his glass. he glances around him, and takes a step towards the door, almost in a panic, like he’ll regret it if he didn’t. a large, warm palm wraps itself around his arm, preventing him from going anywhere. when he looks back, it’s jinyoung, looking at him sternly. 

“seungmin’s upset. i don’t recommend you go talk to him.”  
“b-but—”  
“hyunjin.” jinyoung tightens his grip ever so slightly, hyunjin avoids his gaze at all costs. “it’ll be better for the both of you. seungmin says some… stuff. when he’s upset.”  
“you don’t know anything ab—”  
“ _you_ don’t know anything about him. you’ve just barely grazed the skin of what that boy keeps inside.” 

jinyoung lets go of his arm, sighing. “you may go if you wish, but if it comes back in shambles, don’t say i didn’t tell you so.” 

hyunjin breathes out a relieved, “thank you”, and turns, slipping between people to get to the exit. 

momo’s lips tilt down into a frown when the doors slam shut again, slightly softer this time. “he really is in love, isn’t he?” 

jinyoung sips his wine, closing his eyes for a moment, leaning his weight on one foot. “teenagers would do anything to keep the love of their life. i guess that’s how their minds work.” 

“you’ve been a teen before.”  
“yeah, but i’m twenty-eight now.”  
“so? you can’t tell me you didn’t fall in love with anybody when you were young, stupid, not really knowing where you were going in life.”  
“that… would be true.” 

momo smiles gently. “jinyoung, if he’s truly in love, they’ll figure it out in the end.” 

__

__

hyunjin jogs hurriedly down the stairs out the front of the building, looking left to right in a panic, in search of seungmin. he narrows his eyes, the streets lit up bright with passing cars and stores and street lights but there’s still no sign of the boy. he steps out onto the street for a second, his dress shirt and suit blazer doing nothing to hide him away from the chilly night air. 

a sob echoes from behind him. he turns around, narrows his eyes as he jogs towards the side of the venue, where there’s a pathway leading to behind the building. 

he jogs slightly faster. 

when he rounds the corner, he stops dead in his tracks. seungmin is there alright, hunched over himself in a crying heap on a bench in the courtyard. he’s got his phone in hand, the screen lit up on a caller id hyunjin can only see says ‘ji’, but he’s not calling, thumb hovering just above the button. 

hyunjin takes heedful steps towards him, but stops when the boy shifts in his seat, hiccupping. 

“jisung, i _swear_ to fucking god if you came out here to—”  
“seungmin, it’s me.” 

hyunjin watches seungmin tense up, his breathing uneasy. 

“h-hyunjin?” seungmin asks, looking up at him. 

hyunjin’s breath hitches; seungmin’s eye makeup is smudged, running down in small trails on his flushed cheeks. his eyes are puffy, red, and his hair is a mess. hyunjin’s fingers itch to flatten the red strands out, to wipe away his tears before they get worse. 

“what are you doing here?” seungmin asks, bite in his words, venom dripping from his lips as he looks away.  
“i-i came to look for you. to see if you were okay.”  
“well, i’m not. so you can go back to the party without me. you have your answer.” seungmin buries his face in his knees again. 

hyunjin flinches at the tone, but presses on, gentle. “i’m not going to go back unless you come with me.” 

“why?” seungmin asks, voice breaking.  
“because i’m sure everyone is worried,” hyunjin says, clenching his fingers into a fist by his sides.  
“did jinyoung not warn you to not go after me?” 

hyunjin goes silent for a moment. 

__

_“you don’t know anything about him. you’ve just barely grazed the skin of what that boy keeps inside.”_

__

“he… he did. but i didn’t listen to him, because i’m worried more about you.”  
“you’re… worried. about me.” seungmin exhales shakily.  
“yes, i am. you looked really upset in there.”  
“because jisung’s being a fucking idiot and saying shit that isn’t true and he’s just being super fucking an _noyi—_ ” 

seungmin stops mid sentence when he feels gentle fingers curling around his jaw, tilting his face up. hyunjin looks like a prince from this angle, his hair falls prettily over one eye, the rest of it gelled back out of his face. his makeup is light, but his eyeshadow is a mix of browns and reds, heavy and elongating his already pretty eyes. 

“seungmin, stop. do you hear yourself?” hyunjin asks. seungmin gulps; he looks annoyed. “do you hear what you’re saying about the person who’s been with your for over seven years? who’s got your back through it all?” 

seungmin’s eyebrows furrow. “the one who’s trying to force me to do something i really don’t want to?”  
hyunjin looks at him with surprise and confusion on his face. “something you really don’t… what is it?” 

“…nothing. not important. don’t butt into it.” seungmin turns away from him, moving his hand away from his face. 

“seungmi—”  
“i said don’t fucking butt into it, okay?!” seungmin yells. hyunjin flinches. 

seungmin blinks, opens his eyes wide. what did he—? 

hyunjin takes a step back, his eyebrows furrowed. “fine then. i won’t.” 

“h-hyunjin, i didn’t mean—” 

hyunjin turns away from him, because he just _knows_ that if he had looked at the younger boy for even a moment longer, he’d start crying himself. 

“you know,” hyunjin begins, ignoring the wrench in his heart when he hears seungmin hiccup behind him, 

__

“i thought i fell in love with a sweet boy, someone who cherished everyone and loved them despite anything that’d happen. i guess i was wrong.” 

__

__

with that, he walks off, leaving seungmin by himself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...............im sorry?
> 
> ok at this point im surprised fanart hasnt been made for this au lmAO
> 
> but like here u go, a slightly late update with a turn of events!! i dont know if the argument flowed nicely but at this point i dont care lolol
> 
> ALSO PLEASE SOMEONE PICK UP ON MY SMALL REFERENCE TO YURI ON ICE BECAUSE I LOVE THAT DAMN ANIME AND ITS LIKE 87 PERCENT OF THE REASON I STARTED WRITING THIS
> 
> edit 10/07: the reference to yuri on ice is _really_ small and hidden and it's during the banquet!!!
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated!!! tell me what you think of this fic in the comments!!


	14. we all live for the day they'll be screaming our names.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “how are you feeling?” woojin asks, his voice gentle and calming, like it always is.  
> “pretty shit, not gonna lie,” seungmin laughs airily, clicking his seatbelt into place and pulling his earphones out of the pocket of his jacket.  
> “you should talk to him.”  
> “who?”  
> “hyunjin. we can deal with jisung later, but you need to sort stuff out with hyunjin first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note: if you dont like anything to do with vomiting, just skip the first little part!!! but its nothing too graphic :))

seungmin retches, drops to his knees as soon as he gets the door to his hotel bathroom open. he scrambles for the toilet, hands desperate, grasping at the bowl as he leans over. it’s disgusting; his throat burns savoury from the overly-fancy dinner and then sour, yet so sweet from that overly-expensive glass of champagne he had drunk (he swears to himself and every adult in that room that it was only _one_ ).

“f-fuck, ew, that’s fucking _gross_ ,” he sobs, shifting from his knees onto his thighs, legs coming out to his side, leaning his elbows on the seat of the toilet, panting.

 

_“i thought i fell in love with a sweet boy, someone who cherished everyone and loved them despite anything that’d happen. i guess i was wrong.”_

 

seungmin chokes again, belching out more of his food from earlier. his tears sting hotly behind his eyes, and he really should get up, take a long, hot shower and wash his face, but his legs won’t work; they’re shivering, shaking under him like there’s an earthquake wracking his body. his skin is freezing, but at the same time he’s burning, and the taste of vomit isn’t a particularly nice one. he slumps over onto the floor, all of his muscles aching like fire burning him alive, _years_ of his career and fatigue finally catching up to his young body. he lets out a sob, squeezing his eyes shut tight to try to shut out the world; it comes crashing back down on him when there’s the loud honk of a car outside the building.

_“i said don’t fucking butt into it, okay?!”_

seungmin curls in on himself, rubbing his cold arms.

“i-i’m so sorry,” he whispers, to no one.

“i’m so fucking sorry.”

he thinks he lays there for a solid hour, at the very least, before he regains the strength to stand. he’s shaky, and when he looks in the mirror he gasps, narrows his eyes. he doesn’t even look like him anymore; his eyeshadow is smudged everywhere, eyeliner running down his face in tracks. his cheeks are flushed bright red, eyes bloodshot and puffy to the point where seungmin is surprised he can still see. he breathes out a sigh, twisting the handle on the faucet and collecting water in his cupped hands. he’d better wash up then cry over a pizza and some cheesy english romcom he can find on the tv across from his bed.

 

 

seungmin exhales a breath of air when his back hits the soft sheets of his hotel bed. he glances over at his phone, abandoned when he had thrown it on the bed along with his blazer and tie. he gingerly picks it up, fingers curling around the cool glass back and thumb pressing down on the power button.

 _ **[snapchat]** innie innie jeonginnie_  
_9 missed calls_.  
_15 new messages_.  
_**[instagram]** h.xyunjins uploaded a new post!_

he squints his eyes, opening his instagram.

_**h.xyunjins** a silver for my first grand prix season ain’t too bad haha congrats to all who placed on the podium and thank you to all who didn’t!_

seungmin blinks for every photo he swipes past. one of hyunjin and renjun, one of hyunjin and momo, with brian, with kyulkyung, with somi, with mark.

seungmin feels his breath hitch when he swipes to the last photo.

it’s a photo of him and hyunjin, one arm thrown around each other’s shoulders, both holding up their medals with their other hand and smiling like they’ve been friends for years. hyunjin’s smile makes seungmin twist inside, his eyes creasing up into pretty ~~not pretty~~ crescents, his smile stretching prettily ~~not prettily~~ across his face. seungmin taps into the comments, scrolling down slowly, eyes roving over every comment.

_omg seungmin is so cute in that last picture im going to cry_

_aaah hyunmomo together!!! congrats babies!!!_

_i watched this bitch live and holy fuck can u believe i cried at seungmins short and hyunjins free wowo_

_hyunjin and seungmin are literally a match made in heaven like look at that photo??? b4 i thought that no one’s looks could even come close to hyunjins but seungmin??? in that outfit?? and that makeup??? next to hyunjin? fucking coming for my wig_

_is that hyunjins hand on seungmins waist_

_congratulations to you all!!! it was such a fun and competitive season to watch this year!!_

seungmin feels the wetness running down his cheek before he realises he’s crying. again. he presses the ball of his left palm into his eye, swiping back to the photo.

_5 hours ago. 767,102 likes._

“what the fuck,” he chuckless quietly to himself, bringing up his notifications again, looking at the ‘15 new messages’ displayed on screen.

 **dame tu cosita guy**  
— seungmin?  
— seungmin, where are you?  
— hyunjin’s freaking the fuck out because he doesn’t know where you are  
— seungmin, please  
— i know you probably hate me so much right now, but hyunjin literally looks like he’s going to cry  
— seungmin, we need you here  
— seungmin, i’m so sorry  
— i swear i didn’t mean anything i said  
— hyunjin is eating himself alive because of “what he said to you” but he won’t even fucking tell us what he said

_read [1:47am]_

**mother duck aka coach**  
— seungmin, where did you go?  
— everyone is really worried  
— seungmin  
— seungmin, hyunjin is really worried about you, so please just come back here  
— seungmin?  
— we’ll talk in the morning, then

_read [1:52am]_

seungmin shuts off his phone, throws himself back against his mountain of pillows, and stares at the ceiling. the buzz of the tv at the foot of his bed fills the otherwise quiet air. he sighs, rolls onto his side, looking out of the tiny gap where his curtain flutters from the slightly ajar balcony door. cars pass by one by one, but seungmin doesn’t understand why they’d be up this late. _then again_ , he reasons with himself, turning over onto his other side and staring down the gold blades of his skates where they peek out from his guards, _it_ is _a friday night_.

he doesn’t know when he ends up passing out, but when he does, he doesn’t hear the ‘ding!’ of his phone as it lights up with a new message.

_**it's free real estate** hey, i just wanna talk to you about…_

 

 

seungmin gingerly sets down his cup of water when there’s a knock at his door. his belongings are already packed away in his bags and he’s given up on trying to look presentable. when he opens the door, jinyoung is standing there, and when seungmin looks at him, he can see the physical relief wash over his coach’s face.

“oh _god_ , seungmin,” he sighs, pushing his bangs off of his forehead for a minute. when he looks back up at seungmin, seungmin sees his eyes widen almost comically. “your eyes…”  
“yes, i know. they’re fucking red and puffy as hell because i’ve been crying all night and i can’t be fucked to put anything on my face.” his voice comes out a lot harsher than he had intended, but he doesn’t even try to apologise.  
“at least you’re okay.” jinyoung’s shoulders relax. “hyunjin’s really worried about you, you know?”  
“yeah, whatever.”

seungmin ignores the wrench in his chest. “i’m fine, coach.”  
“are you sure?” jinyoung presses on, eyebrows furrowed.  
“yes, i’m fucking sure.”

seungmin can feel his fist clenching and unclenching by his side with the effort of not just slamming the door in jinyoung’s face, and he looks at the ground, wiggling his toes in his vans.

jinyoung sighs harshly; seungmin flinches. “well, woojin will come and get you when we need to leave for our flight.”

with that, he turns and leaves, giving seungmin one last glance before he turns back to the elevator at the end of the hallway.

seungmin shuts the door behind him, his shirt riding up his back slightly as he slides down against it.

 

 

hyunjin sighs, throwing himself against the back of the sofa in the lobby of their hotel, staring at the high ceiling above him. he drops his phone to his lap, the screen glowing on seungmin’s caller id. chan looks over his shoulder at him, pulling his jacket over his shoulders and raising an eyebrow.

“seungmin still not picking up?” chan asks, voice soft. he pulls a cap over his head of silver hair.  
“no; he’s probably busy crying for all i know,” hyunjin mutters back, picking up his phone again.  
“jinyoung said that he’s fine now. but we can’t be sure about that.”  
“mm.”

chan glances at him, before returning his eyes to his own phone. “…hyunjin, what _did_ you say to seungmin last night?”

“i-it’s nothing.”  
“ _hyunjin_.” chan’s voice is stern, his usually happy aura almost completely gone from his being.  
“i sai—”

hyunjin is cut off by the sound of a car honking outside of the hotel doors; he releases a breath of relief.

“come on, that’s for us,” chan says, ushering hyunjin and his suitcase out the door.

 

 

seungmin huffs, blowing his still-red bangs out of his eyes as he sits down in his seat. woojin sits in the spot next to him, his bigger frame sheltering seungmin from the eyes of others in the plane cabin. seungmin fidgets in his seat, switching his phone on to check the time.

he grimaces at his lock screen; a photo of him and jisung at the latter’s thirteenth birthday, cake smeared over their smiling faces and streamers tangled in their mussed raven hair. it’s 7:23am.

“how are you feeling?” woojin asks, his voice gentle and calming, like it always is.  
“pretty shit, not gonna lie,” seungmin laughs airily, clicking his seatbelt into place and pulling his earphones out of the pocket of his jacket.  
“you should talk to him.”  
“who?”  
“hyunjin. we can deal with jisung later, but you need to sort stuff out with hyunjin first.”

seungmin fiddles with the rips in his denim jeans, rolling the frayed threads between his fingers.

“i’m scared,” he mumbles, eventually, though he hopes it’s drowned out by the noise of everyone talking in the cabin.

woojin doesn’t let him off easy, though; he pulls his own phone out and brings up his kakao, tapping on hyunjin’s contact.

 **hyunjinnie**  
hey, woojin?  
is seungmin with you by any chance?

**mother**  
no? why? 

**hyunjinnie**  
um  
i need to  
talk to him about something 

**mother**  
he’s probably with jae and brian  
or jisung  
i’m over with chan at the banquet if you want to talk 

**hyunjinnie**  
ah, no it’s fine!!  
don’t worry about it 

seungmin flinches; was what he said really what he wanted to talk about? 

“seungmin, what did he say?” woojin asks then, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.  
“he— he said—” seungmin gulps, looking anywhere but woojin’s face. 

“…he said he loved me.” 

woojin raises an eyebrow. “he did?”  
seungmin sighs. “yes, he did. and me, being the fucking idiot that i fucking am, yelled at his fucking face and he walked off.” 

woojin leans back into his seat. “do you love him back?” 

“yes, yes i do.” 

seunghwa tiredly swings open the door, mumbling a groggy ‘hello?’ until she sees who’s standing there. 

“jisung?” she asks, wiping sleep from her eyes.  
“hi, yeah,” he says in a hurry, his chest rising and falling as he pants, “is seungmin home?”  
“no? he told me his flight’s tomorrow.”  
“he was on my flight. what is he talking about?”  
“wait, so he’s back in korea right now?” she asks, panic rising in her voice. 

jisung cocks his head. “he hasn’t shown up to practice in three days—” 

“and he hasn’t come… home.” 

jisung looks seunghwa dead in the eye, and she has pure panic in her dark brown eyes. 

“ _fuck_.” 

“are you sure you haven’t seen seungmin anywhere?” jinyoung asks seunghwa when she and jisung come running through the entrance to the rink, nayeon in tow.  
“i saw him the other day, because he popped in to throw some stuff into his locker and then he left,” nayeon says, fiddling with her gloves.  
“maybe he needed to get away from everything for a bit? i’m sure he’s stressed right now, his graduation ceremony is next thursday,” woojin reasons, shrugging his shoulders.  
“he’s been gone without a word for three days, and he hasn’t shown up to training. wouldn’t he tell at least one of us about where he is?” felix pipes up from his place on top of the rink wall, swinging his legs back and forth. 

jinyoung brings his knuckles to his lips, staring at the ground as if in deep thought. 

jisung watches minho pull his phone out of his pocket, staring intently as the older boy brings up seungmin’s contact and hits ‘call’. the ringtone blares through the otherwise silent room like a siren in a residential area. jisung carefully makes his way over to the older boy, watching as the screen changes. 

_“hello?”_  
“seungmin!” minho yells, his voice coloured heavily with surprise. jinyoung perks up.  
_“hi. how are—”_  
“seungmin, where _are_ you?” jeongin pipes up from minho’s other side.  
_“a-ah, that’s…”_

seungmin’s voice trails off. jisung furrows his brows. he recognises that tone of voice anywhere; seungmin’s been crying pretty intensely. 

“seung, we’re worried about you. please just come to the rink,” minho presses on, shifting his weight onto one foot and tucking one hand under his other arm.  
_“i-i can’t… do that. i’m sorry.”_  
“why not?” jinyoung cuts in, and the line goes silent for a second.  
_“c-coach? a-ah— i’m— i’m sorry, but i can’t.”_

jinyoung sighs. woojin speaks up again. 

“that’s fine, seung. as long as you’re safe and okay, we’ll be okay.” 

seungmin breathes a sigh of relief through the phone. _“thank you, woojin.”_

jisung crosses his legs, leaning against the wall of his little window seat in the corner of his room. his phone glows bright in the darkness, making him squint every time he looks down at it. his mother has long since told him goodnight, before she had left to go downstairs to watch a rerun of the grand prix final with his father and his older brother. he stares silently out of his window, at the street light that illuminates the walkway covered in loose pebbles and broken twigs. 

his phone vibrates in his hand, he looks down at it. 

_**[instagram]** h.xyunjins has uploaded a new post!_

he frowns a little bit, looking back out onto the street. 

he narrows his eyes and straightens up in his seat when he sees someone walking past. it’s a tall man, wearing full black with a cap and a mask on, and he has a pair of… skates? in his hand. jisung squints his eyes a little more, watching the man with hawk eyes. 

he walks under the light of the street lamp, and jisung gasps louder than he intended to. 

**dame tu cosita guy**  
hyunjin  
go to the rink, right now 

**seungmins mans**  
right now??? why?? 

**dame tu cosita guy**  
yes  
right now  
just trust me ok 

jisung drops his phone beside him, getting on his knees and pressing his palms against the window, still looking out after the man. 

he glances at the skates in the man’s hand again; 

the blades are gold. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my birthday is in 9 days oof lol
> 
> ANYWAYS I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS HELLA LATE CHAPTER LMAO theres only two more chapters to go!!!!
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated!! tell me what you think of my fic!!


	15. so we keep on, keep on, keep on.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “are you here to see seungmin?” nayeon asks, her tired eyes still wide.  
> “ _seungmin_?” he feels his stomach twist; whether it’s in a good way or a bad one, he’s not sure. “he’s here?”  
>  “yeah, he came in not too long ago. jisung is quick, that one.”

“so let me get this straight.”

changbin leans against the doorframe, sipping his coffee out of the black and white mug in his hand.

“you don’t want to see anyone else, so you’re coming here to ask to stay with me without telling anyone where you are?”

when the boy in front of him nods, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the floor, changbin sighs, but steps aside to let him in.

“seungmin, you can’t avoid the others for forever, you know?” he says, shutting the door as seungmin slips his red vans off.  
“yes, i know, i just—” he sniffs, staring at the ground and pushing his bangs out of his face. “i don’t want to talk to them right now. i don't even want to go outside right now.”  
“if you’re stressed, why don’t you go to the rink?” changbin suggests, watching as seungmin flops down onto his couch, dropping his bag over the edge of it.  
“because i just _know_ that jinyoung and co will be camping it,” seungmin sighs, turning to face the tv across from the couch. a rerun of the grand prix final is playing, brian’s free skate music playing in the otherwise quiet apartment.  
“then just wait a couple of days, or go at night. you always go out at night.”  
“i can’t risk it with people like jisung living near my house.”  
“take the back alleys.”  
“you want me to die?” seungmin says incredulously, shifting onto his back.

changbin scoffs, throwing himself down next to the red haired male, staring intently at the tv as chenle steps up onto the rink.

“you should tell him, you know,” changbin says after a minute of silence between the two of them.  
“huh?” seungmin hums, voice soft, tired.  
“just tell hyunjin you’re sorry, you want everything to go back to normal, and that your dumbass is in love with him.”

seungmin buries his face in the throw cushion next to his head.

“that’ll make things awkward,” seungmin muffles into the material of the cushion. changbin sighs, he flinches.  
“i’ll kick you out of this damn apartment if you don’t sort shit out.”

seungmin sniffs, he feels changbin getting up from his seat.

“i’m making more coffee, you want some?”

 

 

seungmin shivers, stuffing his hand deeper into his pocket and keeping his eyes trained on the pathway in front of him. the night air is freezing, blowing harsh against his cheeks and making his puffy eyes sting. the streets are silent, with the exception of a few cars that pass by here and now, and when seungmin looks up to the world in front of him, he realises something. the familiar skid marks on the blacktop, the twinkling fairy lights in the window of the house seungmin had once snuck around, the chips in the concrete under his feet from relentless falls from scooters, bikes, rollerblades. seungmin realises that this is the street he once used to spend every waking moment on, and when he glances to the right, just up ahead on the road, where a street light flickers desperately trying to hold onto its light, he blinks.

the neatly trimmed hedges and the freshly painted pristine white walls make seungmin realise. this is jisung’s street, that’s jisung’s _house_.

they don’t live very far from each other at all, a five minute walk if they’re being slow, but jisung’s house is the last thing he wants to see right now. he looks back at the ground and hopes to _hell_ that jisung is already asleep.

that’d be tough luck; jisung is rarely ever asleep at this time.

so, seungmin ducks his head down, pulls his mask higher, adjusts his cap; he can’t let jisung know where he’s going.

a twig snaps under his converse, he flinches. there’s a glint of gold in the corner of his eye; he should have put his skates in his bag.

 

 

nayeon’s got bags under her pretty eyes when she looks up at the sound of the door opening.

“sorry, but we’re clo—”

seungmin cuts her off, throwing his cap off and pulling his mask down. nayeon gasps, doesn’t even bother walking around the counter and instead jumps right over, hurriedly running over to the taller male and squeezing him in her arms.

“seungmin! you’re back!” she pulls back slightly, her eyes lit up.  
“i never left,” seungmin mumbles, but hugs her back with a tiny smile.  
“jesus— i— _we_ were so worried about you, you know?” she asks, finally pulling away completely.  
“you were?”  
“y _eah_ we were! seunghwa and momo were having a collective mental breakdown and— are you crying?”

seungmin laughs, breathy, and wipes away the stray tear threatening to run down his cheek.

“don’t be worried about me. i’m grown up now; i’m graduating next week.”  
“you’re sixteen, seungmin. i’m twenty-four,” nayeon laughs, “you don’t get to call yourself a grown up.”  
“i guess you’re right.”

silence sinks heavy in the air, much like how music sinks into seungmin’s heart when he skates.

“where did you go?” nayeon asks eventually, glancing down at the skates in his hand before meeting his eyes again.  
“…changbin’s. but that stays between us, okay?” seungmin says quietly, and nayeon nods.  
“okay then. not a word from me. but did you want to go skate?”  
“you’ll let me?”

nayeon laughs, and pats him on the shoulder. “you’re a four time grand prix champion, of course i’m going to let you skate.”

seungmin smiles. “thank you, yeon.”

“it’s nothing.”

a warm hug; a crescendo in a musical composition.

 

 

hyunjin crosses one leg over the other, tapping his pen against the page of his book, scratching at the short hairs at the nape of his neck. words like ‘finance’, and ‘interest’, should make perfect sense to him; he’s studied this for years, both in class and in an online course.

but for some reason, nothing seems to line up, nothing makes sense anymore.

he drops his pen, looks over at his phone, the screen lit up on his instagram. he sighs, picking the device up and tapping around until he eventually finds himself on seungmin’s instagram page.

_124 posts; 8.4m followers; following 198._

he taps on the most recent post, a video of seungmin’s skates on the rink, his solitude evident from the loud echo of the scaping of gold blades shedding off flecks of ice.

_8 minutes ago. 108,121 views. 107,234 likes._

he raises an eyebrow; seungmin’s at a… rink? he opens up his kakao to text jisung this when he sees that jisung’s already messaged him something.

**han jisung**  
hyunjin  
go to the rink, right now

hyunjin blinks, stares at the messages for a moment longer. jisung wants him to go to the rink? why?

**hy-ugh-njin**  
right now??? why??

jisung’s reply is almost instantaneous.

**han jisung**  
yes  
right now  
just trust me ok

hyunjin exhales a shaky breath, and shoves his chair out, standing and snatching his jacket off of the back of his office chair and shrugging it over his shoulders. he picks up his phone and runs out the door, socked feet padding against the tiled floors of his house.

“hyunjin? sweetie, what are you doing?”

he turns at the sound of his mother’s voice when he comes down the stairs, throwing a cap on and grabbing his face mask from the dining table.

“i’m heading over to the rink,” he says simply, pulling his cap over his steadily growing raven bangs.  
“right now? it’s so late, though,” his mother sighs.  
“it’s with seungmin,” hyunjin lies smoothly, knowing that his mother would believe him instantly.  
“oh, seungmin? well, then, you should go see what’s happening, i suppose.”

he smiles, releases a breath. thank god.

as he’s pulling his sneakers on, his mother peeks her head into the doorway.

“be careful while you’re out, sweetie.”  
“yes, mom,” hyunjin breathes, looking at the time on his phone one more time. 11:21pm. “if i can’t be home tonight, i’ll text you.”

and with that, the door is swung open, and hyunjin is gone.

 

 

puffs of breath slowly dissipate into the night air as hyunjin jogs, his legs carrying him to the rink like he’s on autopilot and can’t be stopped. he clutches his phone in one hand, the other occupied with holding his mask and his jacket; even though it’s cold out, hyunjin has been in a rink with thinner clothes on, so it _could_ be worse. he rounds a corner, white sneakers squeaking against the concrete walkway and twigs snapping under his weight as he runs a little faster. in the distance, he can see the venue; the lights are still on, surprisingly, but he knows this by now. he runs a tiny bit faster. at some point, he had slowed back down to a jog, and before he knows it, he’s standing at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the entrance of the building he had spent so much time in as a kid, before he had begun to train under chan, and before he had spent so much of his time in australia.

this is home, he realises, as he doubles over with coughs and leans his hands on his knees, panting and gasping for air like the end of every program.

 

 

_seungmin_ is home, he realises quickly after, as he slowly trudges up the stairs, still struggling for breath.

 

 

nayeon is equally as surprised when hyunjin walks in as when seungmin had walked in earlier.

“a-ah, hyunjin? what are you doing out so late? shouldn’t you be at home?” she asks, putting away some files.  
“i should be asking you that.” he smiles gently, before taking in a big breath. “anyways, jisung told me to come, so here i am.”  
“jisung? ah—” nayeon’s face seems to spark with a sudden realisation as there’s a faint sound in the background.

hyunjin can’t mistake that noise for anything else, he’s heard it so many times, over and over and _over_ again; it’s the sound of a skate hitting the ice when a skater exits a jump, the clack and the scratching of when the blade screeches against the rink.

“are you here to see seungmin?” nayeon asks, her tired eyes still wide.  
“ _seungmin_?” he feels his stomach twist; whether it’s in a good way or a bad one, he’s not sure. “he’s here?”  
“yeah, he came in not too long ago. jisung is quick, that one.”  
“is he on the rink?” hyunjin asks, eyeing the door to the locker rooms.  
“yeah, he is. go ahead, if you’d like.” nayeon smiles softly, nodding her head towards the door. “i’m sure things will be just fine.”

hyunjin gulps, turning his attention to the open door. “yeah, thanks.”

it’s as cold as hyunjin remembers, the lockers a faded blue with nametags on a certain wall of them, belonging to the group of kids who have their lessons every tuesday, thursday and saturday. he pulls his jacket over his shoulders again, tugging his cap off and pulling his mask on. the music echoing in the rink is loud, and hyunjin is sure he’s heard it before. (‘say you won’t let go’, by james arthur, if he remembers correctly.) when he steps into the room, his gaze is immediately locked on the figure in the centre of the rink, his movements loose, free, unrestrained. he blinks, so entranced he doesn’t even realise his mouth is hanging open in surprise.

seungmin doesn’t seem to realise he’s there, though, he just keeps on skating, like he was born to be on the ice.

and then when the song peaks just the tiniest bit, he vaults himself back into a triple toe loop. he lands it with practiced ease, and his free leg is straight, graceful as ever. hyunjin keeps on watching, fascinated.

he watches as seungmin prepares himself for another jump. an axel, hyunjin hums silently to himself, as he watches seungmin gliding back like a natural. hyunjin had once met a friend of chan’s while he was training in sydney, and when he had brought up seungmin, purely by accident, chan’s friend had lit up like he’d just gotten the best news of the century.

_“ah, that seungmin kim, eh? he’s a stunner on the ice, ain’t he? he’s kind of like a wave hitting the shore; persistent, rough, but it’s completely natural, y’know? like he was born to compete in figure skating.”_

hyunjin can see why.

when seungmin throws himself into his axel, hyunjin can immediately tell he’s going for a quad, and he prepares himself for the worst when he sees seungmin coming too close to the ground before he can finish his final half rotation. hyunjin winces at the screech of blades on ice, at the sight of seungmin crashing to the ground like a wave on the shore. when he looks back up at the rink, seungmin is still lying on the ground, and hyunjin can see the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathes, the music looping over one more time.

hyunjin’s legs move before it registers in his brain.

he knows it’s a stupid idea to walk on ice with shoes that don’t have much grip, _especially_ for him, considering his luck with walking on different surfaces with the wrong footwear, but something about seungmin’s still body makes him want to hug him close and not let go. he forcefully shoves the memory of china to the back of his mind. seungmin has an arm thrown over his eyes, blocking his view of the world around him. hyunjin’s footsteps are almost silent, but he knows seungmin’s ears must be ringing after skating; his do, at the very least.

he finds himself stopping next to seungmin’s body, staring down at him like he’s a guardian angel or something.

he watches as seungmin carefully removes his arm from his face with a tired sigh, watches as pretty brown eyes flutter open, watches as that same pair of pretty brown eyes widens upon seeing his presence.

“ah, h-hyunjin!?”

seungmin shoots up into a sitting position, scrambling as far away from hyunjin as he can on ice without getting up.

“wh-what are you doing here!?” he asks, voice panicked as he looks up at hyunjin.  
“jisung texted me. he didn’t explain why though, had to lie to my mom that it was about you so she’d let me leave the house.”  
“a-ah… y-you didn’t have to… i-i’m fine!”  
“seungmin, i know i might sound like everyone who’s tried to talk to you for the past week, but i _know_ you aren’t fine. not after vancouver, at the very least.”

hyunjin watches seungmin flinch away, as he draws his legs up so that his knees press into his chest. the ravenette crouches down slowly, eventually sitting down and crossing his legs.

“seungmin—”  
“hyunjin—”

they both stop and flush, cutting their sentences off.

“uh, you can go first,” seungmin says, twiddling his fingers.  
“no, you go. i can always talk after.”  
“uh, i—” seungmin starts, staring at the ground like he’s hoping it swallows him whole. “i’m sorry.”

hyunjin blinks, releases a shaky breath.

“i’m sorry for everything i said, i’m sorry i yelled at you when all you wanted to do was help, i’m sorry i had to drag you into this mess.” seungmin goes quiet, before he glances up at hyunjin, who’s very intent on staring at a patch of ice next to seungmin.  
“you shouldn’t be sorry. you shouldn’t ever be sorry; it isn’t your fault. it’s mine. it’s my fault for raising my voice at you, and for that i’m sorry. it’s my fault for leaving you like that out in the cold, and for that i’m sorry,” hyunjin breathes before he continues,

“it’s my fault for falling in love with you, and for that, i’m so _sorry_.”

the air around them goes silent, the music has stopped and now only the sounds of their breaths mingling is the only noise in the room.

hyunjin looks up in a panic when he hears a hiccup. seungmin is furiously rubbing at his eyes, his legs shaking.

“seungmin? are you okay?” he asks, voice a whisper as he inches closer on his knees.  
“i don’t know how to fucking reply to that, so i’m crying now,” seungmin whimpers, leaning into hyunjin’s touch when the older gently strokes his hair between long fingers.  
“you don’t have to reply. you don’t have to love me back. i’m content as long as you’re happy,” hyunjin hums, smiling down at him as he pulls the red haired male’s head against his chest, wiping his tears away with a delicate thumb.

seungmin hiccups, voice becoming softer and softer until, “hyunjin… what would you do if i told you i wanted to kiss you…?”

hyunjin exhales softly, his lips twitching into an unconscious smile. “then i would probably be the happiest boy on the planet.”

“then—” seungmin sniffs, sitting up a little more, just enough to be able to look up at hyunjin. hyunjin sighs out a breath, looking into seungmin’s bloodshot eyes; the bags under his browns are dark and stretch wide under the lashes fanning over his cheeks every time he blinks.

“—can i kiss you?” seungmin asks, soft, kind, scared.

hyunjin only smiles down at him, reaching a hand up to cradle seungmin’s jawline in the palm of his hand.

“do you even need to ask at this point?” he chuckles softly, and when seungmin smiles, the corners of his lips stretching wide, hyunjin feels relieved; he really hasn’t seen his smile in a while.

“no, i suppose not.”

the first brush of his lips against hyunjin’s sends a long spark of electricity shooting down seungmin’s spine, and when they press together properly, seungmin reaches a hand up to clutch at hyunjin’s jacket, tugging at the denim fabric. seungmin feels hyunjin wiping away something on his cheek before he realises he’s crying once again; he smiles against hyunjin’s lips, a breathy laugh leaving his own lips. there’s no explanation for how cliche this feels, seungmin thinks, as he twists his body so he can press comfortably against hyunjin, so hyunjin can easily wrap his arms around his waist and hold him close.

they sit there for minutes, maybe even hours, but seungmin can’t find it in himself to pull away; at least, not until hyunjin pulls away himself to take a breath of air, his lips stained red and smeared with a little bit of seungmin’s saliva.

“i’m in love with you.” hyunjin whispers into the crown of seungmin’s hair. “i really _am_ in love with you.”

seungmin doesn’t reply to him, he instead curls his fingers around the nape of hyunjin’s neck and drags him down into another slow kiss. he kisses the ravenette, and the world falls away. it’s slow and soft, comforting in ways that words could never even hope to be. the older’s hand rests just below his ear, his thumb carefully cradling his cheek as their breaths mingle. seungmin runs his fingers across hyunjin’s shoulders, pulling him closer until there’s no longer any space left between them and he can feel the distinct beating of his heart against his chest.

ah, so this is what love feels like. seungmin smiles wide against hyunjin’s mouth, before he’s bursting into giggles, hyunjin eventually following after him.

“i guess i’m in love with you, too.” seungmin is still giggling, looking up at hyunjin like he’s hung the stars in the sky.  
“you guess?” hyunjin brushes a stray hair out of seungmin’s eyes. “or you _know_?”

 

 

“i _know_.”

 

 

**kermit suicide**  
meet me at the cafe near school at 10am  
i want to talk

 

 

jisung stretches his hands above his head, yawning as he makes his way down a concrete pathway in the city, heading for the cafe seungmin had told him to meet at. he’s jittery, to say the least; this is one of the only times seungmin has invited him to meet up. usually, it’s him inviting seungmin. it’s a surprisingly windy december morning, and jisung’s jacket does just the bare minimum to keep him relatively warm.

he pushes open the door to the cafe, the tiny bell chiming to alert his presence. he smiles and waves to the boy at the front desk, heo hyunjoon, a dance student at his school, before he’s making his way to the booth in the corner, where he knows seungmin _always_ sits.

and lo and behold, there he is, smiling down at his phone while sipping on a coffee.

“hey,” he says, sliding into the booth across from the red haired male. seungmin smiles.  
“morning.”  
“you’re uncharacteristically cheery today,” jisung points out, glancing at his phone. “something happen?”  
“yeah, but i’ll get into that in a little bit. the thing i wanted to talk to you about was what happened last friday night.”

jisung winces, looks out the window, but he looks back and nods.

“i’m sorry,” seungmin mumbles, before speaking up, “i’m sorry. for what happened. it’s my fau—”  
“no, seung, it isn’t.”

seungmin’s eyes widen; he hasn’t heard that nickname in a while.

“it’s _my_ fault for trying to force you to do something you didn’t want to, something you may still not want to do, and now that i think back on it, i’m in the wrong. so, i’m sorry.”

it goes quiet for a bit, before seungmin’s lips break into a bright smile. “here i was thinking that you’d never apologise for anything you ever did.”

“oh, fuck off. i’m not that mean of a person.”  
“i beg to differ, dipshit,” seungmin laughs, jisung rolls his eyes.  
“so does this mean we’re on good terms now?” jisung asks, cocking his head to the side and looking at seungmin.  
“sure. i mean,” seungmin sighs, “we were going to forgive each other whether we like it or not.”

jisung smiles, closing his eyes for a moment. “you’re right.”

they sit and talk for a bit more, as if nothing had happened between them, because this sort of thing has happened so many times to them it should be a known fact that they’d be on good terms again sooner or later.

“anyways, why are you in such a good mood today?” jisung asks eventually, as a waitress sets down their food and drinks.  
“no rea—”  
“yo. guys!”

they both turn their heads when someone calls out to them. it’s hyunjin, closely followed by minho.

seungmin’s eyes sparkle a tiny bit more in the december sun.

minho sits down first, next to jisung, smiling gently at him before glancing over at seungmin. before seungmin has a chance to smile and say hello to minho, hyunjin’s got a finger under his chin and he’s tilting his head up towards him and pressing their lips together in a short, sweet little hello kiss.

“wait— w _ait_ a fucking seco— are you two—” jisung sputters, minho laughs.  
“take an educated guess as to why i’m in such a good mood today.” seungmin smiles.  
“and you didn’t fucking tell me?” jisung asks incredulously.  
“listen, bitch, this happened last night. because _you_ told hyunjin to follow me to the rink.”  
“uh.”  
“don’t even lie, ji,” minho says, looking over at him. jisung sighs.  
“okay, fine, i did. but hey, look at you two now, being all lovey-dovey.”  
“yeah, now we’re waiting on you and minho to get together.” seungmin snickers.  
“thought it was woojin and chan?” minho laughs.  
“they’re basically dating already. and felix and changbin are already dating, sooo,” hyunjin hums, “it’s just you two.”

they all break out into laughter.

seungmin feels his cheeks heat up when hyunjin laces their fingers together under the table, his thumb pressing gentle patterns into his soft skin.

 

 

 

the hall is packed, parents sitting with their kids, family friends, other relatives all squeezed into one room. hyunjin crosses one leg over the other, looking through the pamphlet they had given him at the entrance.

_kim seungmin (16)_

he smiles, and looks up at the stage when the lights dim. someone nudges him in the arm; it’s chan, smiling at him knowingly.

“what is it?” he whispers.  
“you’d better give him the biggest kiss after this,” chan whispers back.

hyunjin is sure he goes bright red, but he’s glad it’s relatively dark so he doesn’t have to worry about people looking at him.

the ceremony has already stretched out for around an hour, at least. the seniors have been congratulated one by one, all stepping up onto the stage and accepting their diplomas with shaking hands and relieved smiles. hyunjin hears chan talking to woojin, and he turns to seunghwa, who’s sitting to his right.

“you excited?” he asks, looking back at the stage as another student strides over to the principal, accepting his certificate.  
“my baby brother is graduating, of course i’m excited,” she laughs. “you should be, too. now you can have all his undivided attention.”  
“i’m sure at least half of it has to go to his online classes _and_ skating, now.”  
“and what was it before?”  
“i dunno, like seventy-five percent?”

they both chuckle softly, before turning back to the front as the headmaster announces more names.

hyunjin smiles softly when he sees seungmin’s tell-tale red hair peeking out from behind one of the standing banners, the strands pushed neatly out of his eyes and already fading to a pretty rosy-brown.

 

[“and now, for our final student of the night, we will be congratulating kim seungmin, the pride of our school, on willingly making the choice to cut his schooling career short to focus on competitive skating. he’s an outstanding student at such a young age, and a phenomenal public figure as well. congratulations to you, seungmin, for completing your time here at xx academy. we’re all wishing you the best for whatever the future may hold for you. please, a round of applause for this incredible boy.”]

 

seungmin’s face is bright as he holds out his hand to the principal to shake it and accept his diploma.

when seungmin stands next to his classmate and turns to face the crowd, hyunjin feels a presence to his right.

“he fills out his blazer so well now.” it’s jisung, sighing, resting his elbows on both hyunjin and seunghwa’s shoulders. “i remember when he first got it at the end of middle school, and it was so big on him he barely ever wore it, even during the winter.”  
“aren’t you supposed to wear it?” hyunjin asks, as all of the students slowly file off of the stage and out the door to the left.  
“yeah, but nobody really cared. seungmin was really popular on campus, even more so than most of the trainees that attend school here.”

hyunjin hums, leans back into his seat as jisung sits back down properly in his seat.

 

 

seungmin smiles and easily slips into a hug with one of his classmates, sunwoo, thanking him for a great year and giving him one last squeeze before he’s quickly making his way to where hyunjin had texted him he’d be. he gets stopped by one, two teachers, a couple of students who want his autograph before he takes his last steps out of the front gate for good, but he manages to see the giant standing in a corner near the snack table, a glass of water in his hand as he talks to a couple of seungmin’s seniors, two girls he’s organised events with once before.

“jinnie,” seungmin calls, voice gentle, yet eyes sparkling bright and beautiful.

all three of them turn their heads, the two girls gasp in shock and sputter of sentences as they furiously between the two boys, and hyunjin smiles, outstretching his arm for seungmin to fit himself against.

“hi, baby boy,” hyunjin mumbles, pressing a soft kiss to seungmin’s cheek. “i’m proud of you.”  
“thanks,” seungmin sighs, fixing a little bit of his hair. “couldn't have done it without you.”  
“i did nothing. it was all you.”

they stand there for a moment before they’re bursting out into laughter, the rising and falling of their chests matching as they look at each other.

“i love you?” hyunjin says, a question in his teasing voice as he lets seungmin grab his cup to take a sip of water.

seungmin focusses on his boyfriend’s eyes, which dart from the lip of his cup to his face, twinkling copper and almond, shining in the lights above them. they’re a deep, earthy brown - the colour of the earth once it's been kissed by the torrential rains, the hue that promises to bring life from dormant seeds, the nascent plants guided upward by the light before blossoming into the vibrant colours of a new season. seungmin’s never bothered to notice before, they all have such similar eye colours — a plain, mocha brown — but when he looks at hyunjin, he notices every little thing; the tiny mole under his left eye, the way his eyes crinkle up into beautiful crescents when he smiles, the harmonious sound of his laugh, the little habit he has of staring off into space when no one’s talking to him, how clumsy he is off of the ice— he notices it all.

and he simply smiles up at the ravenette when he raises an eyebrow at him.

“i love you,” he says simply, and hyunjin releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding.  
“i’m so glad i met you,” hyunjin hums, pulling him into a hug and resting his chin on his shoulder.

“thank you for existing.”

seungmin scoffs, but smiles nonetheless. “cheesy.”

 

 

jisung comes bounding up to them, his phone in hand and the rest of the gang, and jinyoung and chan, in tow, smiling and waving at them as they pull away from their hug.

“group photo to celebrate seungmin’s graduation!” jisung yells, as he passes hyunjoon his phone and throws an arm around seungmin’s shoulders, swaying against seungmin’s other side. hyunjin curls his arm almost protectively around seungmin’s waist, as the others gather round, some of them crouching on the floor, the others on their tippy toes behind jisung and to the left of hyunjin.

and as hyunjoon opens his mouth to say, ‘cheese!’, seungmin feels hyunjin pressing his lips to his cheek gently, and he feels his lips splitting apart into a big grin as the flash of jisung’s phone goes off.

 

 

seungmin leans back against hyunjin’s chest, smiling at his phone.

“what are you looking at, baby boy?” hyunjin asks, resting his chin on seungmin’s shoulder as seungmin shows him.

seungmin feels hyunjin’s smile against the side of his neck, feels the steady beating of his heart against his back, feels hyunjin tracing the exposed skin of his hip with rough, yet soft, fingertips. it’s the group photos they had taken at seungmin’s graduation, and now that seungmin looks at the photos more clearly, he notices something he didn’t when it was taken. he snickers and points it out to hyunjin; hyunjin chuckles airily.

“well, i guess that’s chan and woojin sorted, then.”

 

 

 

_**hhan_ji, bangchan_ and 1,092,120 others like this.** _

_**seungmin_kim** yes, we were born to make history!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's my fourteenth birthday why not upload the final chapter of the story today lmao
> 
> but! i did say there was going to be one more chapter, and there is!! you'll just have to wait hehe
> 
> in the meantime, here we are, fifteen chapters in, and over 40k words, and seungmin and hyunjin are finally admitting they're in love. we love sister character development lmao
> 
> thank you for coming on this journey with me!! i thought this would be a flop ngl lmAOOO but thank you for sticking with me and reading up until this far in the story and thank you for all leaving wonderful comments for me to read!!! they were really encouraging and kept me going (otherwise i prolly would have abandoned this work like all my other chaptered fics lol)
> 
> big thank you to everyone who has read this far, and also to ash, who i've let look at the doc pre-upload and has cried over what i've written lmAO ILY ASH
> 
> as always, leave a comment and kudos if you liked it!! did you like the fic, love it? tell me!!!
> 
> thank you again for coming on this amazing journey with me! see ya later!!


	16. epilogue; we're the new heroes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> seungmin craves the attention, craves the spotlight that he gets every time he’s on the ice, and when he finally gets it, he basks in all its glory and bends his back into the perfect ina bauer the world has come to know and adore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> by the way, go hit me up on twitter - @jisxngie

seungmin craves the attention, craves the spotlight that he gets every time he’s on the ice, and when he finally gets it, he basks in all its glory and bends his back into the perfect ina bauer the world has come to know and adore. everyone in the stadium cheers, and before he even has the chance to turn around, hyunjin is speeding past him, throwing himself into a triple axel, perfected after years of training.

“showoff,” seungmin mutters, smiling.

one by one, the rest of the men's skaters step onto the ice and join them, just like they had rehearsed at six in the morning the day before.

“sup, fucko,” jisung says to him in passing, a smirk on his face, before he vaults himself into a quadruple flip in sync with renjun and brian.

the music they’re dancing to is upbeat, happy, and when seungmin glances over at hyunjin and the others, he smiles just a bit, his dirty blonde hair falling into his eyes. eventually all of the skaters join them on the ice, momo crushes him in a tight hug before they’re all getting into position. seungmin thinks that galas are fun, esp _ecially_ after months of training and days of pure competition. he lets hyunjin pull him back a row, to stand between him and jisung, and when he looks up at hyunjin, his boyfriend’s eyes crinkle prettily behind his blue black bangs when he smiles back down at him.

“i love you,” hyunjin whispers, as the rest of the skaters get to their places.  
“i love you more,” seungmin rebutts, but hyunjin doesn’t get the chance to argue against him because the music has kicked up and everyone is moving all of a sudden.

the craving for the spotlight burns bright in seungmin’s chest, and so when they move over to the eastern side of the stadium, he slips past brian and mark, waving at the audience and stealing everyone’s attention with his bleached dirty blonde hair, his eyes, coloured blue with the contacts he’s wearing, with his outfit, sparkly and jewelled and soso _so_ graceful.

he smiles back at the others, moving again just as the commentators’ voices rise up in the stadium, just loud enough to be heard above the sound of the music.

[“what a _great_ couple of days of competition from our figure skaters this year, what do you say?”]

[“i absolutely agree. especially that young boy, seungmin kim.”]

[“oh, of course! can you believe he’s set a world record at such a young age?”]

[“i’m hardly able to! such talent possessed by him, indeed. especially since he’s also the first skater in history to land a quadruple axel.”]

[“yes! i’m sure he must still be feeling very happy about that, even after all this time.”]

seungmin throws his leg forward, propelling himself into his signature move; the quad axel. when he lands, foot incredibly stable and free leg hoisted beautifully in the air, he looks over at hyunjin and smiles softly.

 

[“and now would you look at that everybody, all of the skaters from the ice dancers, pair skaters, mens and womens being led off by this year’s olympic gold medallist, seungmin kim. closely followed by silver medallist hyunjin hwang and bronze medallist jisung han.”]

[“the three of them are korean born, no?”]

[“yes, they are. they’re really stepping it up over there, giving the other contestants a run for their money.”]

 

seungmin skids to a stop and reaches his arms out in an inviting hug to the other skaters, the smile on his face bright and cheery. hyunjin practically flies into his arms, his longer limbs encasing seungmin’s body like he’s meant to be there. jisung follows soon after, with brian, and momo, and renjun, until all of the skaters are crashing against each other, laughing and yelling and wrapping their arms around each other in a big group hug.

hyunjin smells like cinnamon and honey and the underlying scent of firewood and earth that’s been soaked in the spring rain; he smells like _home_ , and when seungmin pulls away just slightly to look up at him (has he grown? or has seungmin just gotten shorter?) he laughs, ecstatic, happy beyond the point of words.

“you’re cute,” hyunjin hums, as another skater pushes them closer together.  
“you’re home,” seungmin says simply, turning around and throwing his hand in the air when the song ends after its final crescendo in the form of soft bass and a set of drums.

the audience applauds them so loud seungmin can’t hear anyone or anything else. jisung punches him in the shoulder, playfully, like they always used to as kids.

seungmin doesn’t think he wants it any other way.

 

 

seungmin’s third glass of champagne goes down as easily as his first, and that familiar sweet taste tingles at the back of his sore throat. he looks up from his phone when a shadow looms above his sitting form, and scoffs when he sees jisung standing there, a glass of white wine in his hand.

“congratulations, seung,” jisung says, holding out his hand to the younger boy.  
“why are you congratulating me? i should be the one congratulating you, y’know.” seungmin downs another sip of his champagne. “you won bronze today.”  
“because of _you_ ,” jisung laughs. “you were the one who insisted on teaching me how to land my jumps properly until you couldn’t see any flaws anymore.”  
“that’s simply technique; every figure skater has it. but every figure skater also has their own flair to their choreography, so your programs out there were all you, bud.”

“what are you guys talking about?”

they both turn their heads, and their faces light up at the sight of woojin, platinum blonde hair and thickly pencilled in eyebrows and kind eyes and everything.

“woojin!”

seungmin jumps up from his seat and crushes the slightly shorter male in a hug, careful to not spill any champagne on the suit he’s wearing.

“well hello to you, too,” woojin chuckles, patting him on the shoulder. “good job out there today. i’m proud of you; you too, jisung.”  
“wow, you sound like my mom,” jisung sighs, but the corners of his lips are turned up.  
“i’ve been looking after you two since you were thirteen. i’m basically your second mother.”

seungmin laughs airily, then he eyes the hand woojin’s has wrapped around his own glass of red wine.

“so chan finally did it, eh?” seungmin teases, tilting his head to the side and sipping his drink.  
“i did what, when, where, and why?” chan pops his head into the conversation over woojin’s shoulder, before squeezing into their little group.  
“nothing.” seungmin waves him off.

jisung perks up at the sound of his name from the crowd, and when they all turn, it’s minho, with jeongin in tow.

“oh, hey, babe,” jisung greets, leaning up to press a kiss to minho’s temple.  
“jeonginnie, my _baby_ ,” seungmin coos, pulling the youngest of them all into a tight bear hug.  
“i’m nineteen, seungmin,” he huffs, trying to pry seungmin’s arms off of him.  
“yeah, and i’m twenty, so who’s the elder here?” seungmin raises an eyebrow; jeongin sighs and lets him continue cooing over him.  
“hyunjin, changbin and felix are over at the buffet table,” minho says, fixing a strand of jisung’s hair. “don’t know when they’re going to come over, or where jinyoung is.”  
“probably sucking face with jaebum,” chan coughs, sipping his wine as if he hadn’t said anything.  
“what, like you do with woojin?” jisung snickers.

chan chokes on his wine. woojin goes bright red, and sputters.

“jeonginnie, congrats on graduating,” seungmin hums, letting the boy go and fixing his mussed brown hair up.  
“thanks, it was three years of hell.” jeongin smiles and flashes him a thumbs up.  
“sorry hyunjin and i couldn’t make it to your graduation; we had the grand prix going on—”  
“—and i won.”

seungmin turns around, and hyunjin is striding up to them, his phone in one hand, a glass of some nondescript alcohol in his other.

“by two points, you insufferable nark.” seungmin rolls his eyes, but lets hyunjin pull him close by a large hand on his slim waist anyway.  
“baby, did you really think i’d let you win three years in a row?”  
“after your win in ‘19, i was really hoping so.” seungmin pouts. hyunjin kisses it off of his face.  
“i can’t let my boyfriend steal world champion from me, now can i?” hyunjin teases, looking down at him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

yeah, he’s definitely gotten taller.

seungmin rolls his eyes instead of saying anything, sipping his drink. hyunjin laughs.

“‘least i got gold today,” seungmin mumbles, and hyunjin hugs him to his chest, laughing.  
“stop being salty, baby boy,” the ravenette whispers, kissing the blonde’s temple.

“guys, stop being so handsy.”

they pull apart, and turn their heads at the sound of a new voice. it’s jinyoung, with felix and changbin in tow.

“gang gang.” jisung snickers, flashing a peace sign at the others.  
“please never say that ever again in your life, you absolute cracko.” seungmin whacks him over the back of the head, minho can’t help the laugh that leaves his lips.

hyunjin still has an arm wrapped around his waist, fingers teasing at his belt loop and pressing into his hips.

“congrats on your marriage.” seungmin smiles at jinyoung, glancing at the gold band on his ring finger.  
“ah, thank you, seungmin,” jinyoung says with a soft smile, and the others congratulate him too. “might as well have gotten it done and over with before your first olympics. speaking of, i’m really proud of you.”

seungmin flushes bright red, hyunjin chuckles down at him.

“it’s always been your dream, hasn’t it?” changbin asks, and felix nods. “to skate on an olympic level?”  
“didn’t you say you wanted to skate against me?” hyunjin smirks, raising an eyebrow. seungmin smacks his chest and buries his face away in the crook of the ravenette’s neck.  
“ugh, i never should have told you about that,” seungmin half groans, half whines.

hyunjin just pets the back of his head and runs his fingers through his bleached strands of hair.

“when are you two getting married, anyways? we’ve kinda been waiting for you for like seven years now.” jisung pokes seungmin’s shoulder repeatedly. seungmin violently stomps on his foot, the blond yelps.  
“we’ll get engaged, at least, if seungmin wins gold at the next winter olympics,” hyunjin hums.

seungmin chokes on his own saliva. “when did i agree to this?”

and hyunjin only smiles down at him, his eyes folding up into pretty crescents, red eyeshadow melting into browns and yellows, and he giggles like a baby getting what it wants. seungmin exhales tiredly, stepping back to sip his drink.

“i can assure you jisung isn’t going to be my best man,” seungmin mutters, dodges a playful swing from the blond.  
“fuck you, asshole,” jisung gasps in faux offence. “who’s the one who got you two together in the end?”

seungmin glares at him, flashes him his middle finger. jisung flashes it back, minho elbows him in the side with a chuckle and a shake of his head.

felix pipes up then, his raven hair falling neatly between his eyes; he’s been growing it out lately, it looks nice.

“why don’t we take a group photo, like we did back when seungmin graduated?” he’s hugging changbin’s left arm to his chest, fingers playing with the dark material of his dress shirt.  
“you sure you’re ready for the fangirls screaming like last time?” chan speaks in english, chuckles when felix snorts.  
“hey, that was because hyunjin’s kissing seungmin on the cheek in the photo.” woojin gently elbows him in the side with a chuckle.  
“i’m sure they’ll scream even louder now that we’re all together again. most of the time, changbin is in university, felix is either working or filming videos, jeongin is studying to get into college, hyunjin, jisung and i have competitions, chan and jinyoung are our coaches and woojin and minho have a class of ten to teach at the rink back home,” seungmin sighs.

“so that’s a yes?” jisung smiles knowingly, already pulling his phone out of his back pocket.

seungmin glances at him, then he looks up at hyunjin. the ravenette cocks his head, a silent ‘what?’ hanging in the air between them. seungmin smiles, reaching his hand forward to grab hyunjin’s; his warm palms stinging against hyunjin’s cold ones, his short, skinny fingers slotting perfectly between hyunjin’s longer, slightly thicker ones.

he tugs him over, pressing a soft kiss to his jaw.

“what do you say?” he whispers.

“i don’t mind,” hyunjin chuckles breathily.

“well, then, what are you waiting for, come over here!” jisung smiles, tugs seungmin along by the hand.

seungmin looks back up at hyunjin, hyunjin down at seungmin.

and they laugh, like nothing matters anymore.

 

 

 

hyunjin’s ears perk up at the sound of footsteps behind him, and he swings around in his stool with his cereal in hand to watch as seungmin slowly pads into the room, his (read: hyunjin’s) shirt running down to his knees and socks pulled halfway up his calves. he’s got an incredible display of bed head, with strands of violet and faded fuschia sticking up every which way, and it makes hyunjin smile affectionately as he slowly crosses the room.

“‘morning, seung.” hyunjin smiles as seungmin drapes his arms around his shoulders tiredly and presses his chin into the crown of his blonde hair.

seungmin stands there for a good minute or so, only the sound of their breathing and hyunjin’s chewing able to be heard in the room. he runs his dainty fingers through hyunjin’s newly bleached hair, letting the grown out strands fall from between them like sand in an hourglass. seungmin turns his head to the side, pressing his cheek against the crown of hyunjin’s head and yawning.

“morning, baby boy,” he mumbles, hugging hyunjin closer to his chest.

hyunjin chokes around a mouthful of his cereal. seungmin giggles, pulling back, running a hand through hyunjin’s bangs and pushing them out of his face. “are you okay?” he asks softly.

“other than the fact that _you_ just called me ‘baby boy’, yeah, i’m fine.” hyunjin clears his throat, twisting his body so he can grab his cup of coffee from the breakfast bar.  
“i can’t let you have all the nicknames,” seungmin laughs, hopping up onto the stool beside hyunjin. “you have all the nicknames for theodore, too.”

seungmin pouts, hyunjin kisses it off of his face. “theo’s yours too, y’know. so is prince.”

“it’s your turn to feed them, by the way,” seungmin hums, grabbing hyunjin’s wrist when he goes to put another spoonful of cereal into his mouth, instead directing the spoon into his own mouth.  
“yeah,” hyunjin hums, feeds the violet haired boy another spoonful of cereal. “ are we taking them out for a walk today?”  
“i’m free, so sure.”

hyunjin smiles.

“i’m in love with you,” he breathes, watches as the younger boy’s face flushes a pretty shade of pink in the golden rays of sunlight peeking through the curtains draped down over the windows of their house like a too-big cloak on a too-small frame.

hyunjin laughs warmly. “it’s been eight years and you still get flustered when i say i’m in love with you?”  
“because you say it so blatantly and out of the blue!”

seungmin hides his face away in his hands, bringing his legs up to rest across hyunjin’s lap.

“i love you, too,” seungmin mumbles, eventually.

though hyunjin doesn’t need to hear those words, he already knows, he still smiles at them and leans in to press a delicate kiss to the violet haired boy’s lips.

they’re broken out of their reverie when there’s the distinct sound of barking upstairs.

“theo and prince are fighting over the chew toys you got them last week, i bet you,” seungmin laughs.  
“they’ll get over it,” hyunjin hums, “i’m busy for now.”

and when hyunjin presses their lips together again, seungmin lets it happen, when he feels hyunjin pulling him off of his stool so he can hop onto his lap, he let it happens, and when hyunjin pulls away for air to nose at his collarbone, he lets it happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

_06/08/2026_  
_**BREAKING NEWS** _  
_two time olympic gold medallist seungmin kim has recently announced his engagement to fellow figure skater, hyunjin hwang. the two, known for their incredible programs and chemistry with each other behind the scenes, have both posted photos with each other where it is evident that kim has a ring on his finger, both with the caption of ‘i like me better when i’m with you’. the two have announced that their wedding will be a small, private one mid-june next year. we wish both kim and hwang the best on their marriage, and we congratulate them once again for their incredible performance at the winter olympics this year._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slams fist violently on table, i love seungjin
> 
> incase you're a little confused about the ages in this fic;
> 
> at beginning (2018 gp season);  
> woojin - 23  
> chan - 21 (turning 22)  
> minho - 19 (turning 20)  
> changbin - 18 (turning 19)  
> hyunjin - 16  
> jisung - 15 (turning 16)  
> felix - 15 (turning 16)  
> seungmin - 15 (turning 16)  
> jeongin - 15
> 
> at the end (seungmin and hyunjin's second olympics);  
> woojin - 30  
> chan - 28 (turning 29)  
> minho - 27 (turning 28)  
> changbin - 26 (turning 27)  
> hyunjin - 24  
> jisung - 23 (turning 24)  
> felix - 23 (turning 24)  
> seungmin - 23 (turning 24)  
> jeongin - 23
> 
> and that, my friends, marks the end of this very, _very_ long road
> 
> i just wanted to say thank you so much for all of the love and support you've given this fic while i was writing it kjsjdjn it really motivated me to keep going!!!
> 
> lets have a toast to vita finally finishing a chaptered fic for once, now ive got 729788398 other wips to work on oOOF
> 
> thank you all so much for reading!!! comment what you liked about the fic, what you didnt like, maybe things you wish had happened but didnt??? comment!!! they make me happy and boost my self esteem lol
> 
> thank you again from your friendly neighbourhood aussie stay, vita uwuwuwu <333
> 
> also ash and momo - hi if you see this you're probably dying i can predict the future just trust me on this one uwuw
> 
> follow me on twitter! @jisxngie


	17. special chapter ; go figure (skate)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the morning starts off as per usual.
> 
> “morning, baby boy,” hyunjin mumbles with a tired smile as seungmin bumps the door to their room open with his hip, a tray of toast, eggs and bacon in his hands as he treads over the cold hardwood floors to the bed.
> 
> “morning,” he replies softly, setting down the tray and climbing into bed, leaning down to press a soft kiss to hyunjin’s lips, the distinct taste of morning breath not so great but it’s hyunjin, so seungmin doesn’t mind that much. “how’d you sleep?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my formatting fucked up so this looks like its 20k words long but i swear its only 8k

in retrospect, seungmin really should have thought this through before he agreed to help woojin and minho out with the kids at the skating rink.

 

_“seohee, straighten your free leg, relax your arms, it makes your performance look better.”_

 

_"yihua, arch your back a little bit more in that ina bauer.”_

 

_“wow, shun, your half biellmann is really good!”_

 

yeah, he’s tired.

 

the rink is as cold as ever, seungmin’s (read: hyunjin’s) hoodie running down to mid thigh and the sleeves slipping down no matter how many times he pulls them up. woojin is busy teaching the first year students, who are still struggling to get their balance right, who slip and fall more times than seungmin can count. minho is stuck with the second year students, who are just learning the simplest moves, like the ina bauer, and the easy spins.

 

and seungmin? well, they entrusted him with the third year skaters, the elementary kids and the middle schoolers who are too eager to learn how to land their jumps, to learn their spins.

 

there’s one particular boy in his group; he’s shy, quiet, the least rowdy out of all of them, with strands of his bangs dyed a faded orange and small yet expressive eyes that resemble a deer’s.

 

his name is choi jaeyoung, an thirteen year old boy attending the elementary school seungmin once attended.

 

seungmin is fond of him.

  
  
  
  


“don’t worry, jae, i’m here! just glide backwards, and take off from the back outside edge of your blade. try just one rotation for me okay? remember, take off on the back outside edge and land on the back outside edge of your opposite foot.”

 

seungmin smiles gently at the boy, before he nods and sets off. he glances over at woojin, who’s desperately trying to teach one of his little girls how to keep her balance, before focussing back on jaeyoung. the boy is moving at a decent speed, seungmin reckons, and he loops around minho’s group of kids before gliding backwards towards seungmin and the rest of his class on slightly wobbly legs.

 

he digs the toe pick of his skate into the ice behind him, lifting himself off of the ice almost perfectly and landing after completing one rotation.

 

“wow! jaeyoung landed it!” one of the other kids, hyunjae, says in awe, watching as jaeyoung retreats back to seungmin’s side.

“that was so cool, jaeyoung!”

“i wanna learn that, too!”

“mr. kim, mr. kim, me next, me next!”

“no, me!”

“bold of you to assume he’s choosing anyone but me—”

“jinhwan, shut up.”

 

jinhwan sticks his tongue out at kiyeon, jaeyoung’s older brother. he does it back.

 

“now, now, kids. just like woojin always says, age order, eldest first.”

 

“yes!” a girl, minah, cheers, skating towards seungmin.

 

seungmin smiles.

  
  
  
  


the morning starts off as per usual.

 

“morning, baby boy,” hyunjin mumbles with a tired smile as seungmin bumps the door to their room open with his hip, a tray of toast, eggs and bacon in his hands as he treads over the cold hardwood floors to the bed.

 

“morning,” he replies softly, setting down the tray and climbing into bed, leaning down to press a soft kiss to hyunjin’s lips, the distinct taste of morning breath not so great but it’s hyunjin, so seungmin doesn’t mind that much. “how’d you sleep?”

 

“good. i have training today.” hyunjin sits up, the sheets slipping down his bare torso.

“chan makes you train at the most inconvenient of times.”

“you say that as if woojin doesn’t steal you away from me three days a week to help with a bunch of middle schoolers. _and_  as if jinyoung doesn’t have you under his captivity every other day.”

“we should nickname woojin and chan the ‘inconvenient couple’.” seungmin giggles, leaning against his husband’s shoulder. hyunjin laughs with him.

“mm, how’s jaeyoung? you’re always so excited to tell me stories about how he’s going.”

 

hyunjin leans over seungmin, reaching for the remote sitting on the bedside table, as seungmin fixes up their plates. there’s three bright red scratches running down hyunjin’s right shoulder blade, and seungmin laughs softly to himself.

 

“what?” hyunjin asks, fumbling for the remote as it slowly slips further and further away from him.

“prince really did get you good.”

 

he trails his fingers over the scratches and presses a kiss between his shoulder blades before hyunjin sits back up, remote in hand.

 

“that was a fat smooch,” hyunjin breathes out, and seungmin snorts, laughing through his nose.

“you deserve the fattest smooches,” he says in a disgustingly domestic voice, pressing his nose into hyunjin’s cheekbone, his grown out platinum blonde hair ticking the bridge of seungmin’s nose.

“ew, gross. anyways, jaeyoung?”

“oh, yeah! he landed his first triple loop yesterday.”

“that’s awesome.” hyunjin smiles. “you’d be a great coach.”

“ugh, i don’t think so. i still skate competitively now, even though we’re getting older.”

“anyways, you should teach him a salchow next. i’m sure the others will be so jealous of him when they see that he can do it.”

“i’m sure that they’d just ask what the difference was between the two jumps.”

“they’re middle schoolers, they’ll figure it out.”

 

seungmin laughs, kisses hyunjin on the jaw and slides the tray between them as the older boy switches their tv on.

 

“you’ve gotten a lot more domestic over the years,” hyunjin hums, seungmin punches him in the arm.

“we’re married, dumbass.”

“i’m in love with you.”

 

and when hyunjin looks over at him with bright, sparkly eyes, akin to the ones that seungmin had first seen and fallen in love with, seungmin’s heart _melts_  and he’s sure hyunjin knows this by now; his shoulders sag but not in a bad way, his eyes flicker up to meet his, and the lovey-dovey smile on his face is still the same after all these years.

 

“i’m in love with you too, dumbass.”

  
  
  
  


jaeyoung doesn’t show up on tuesday. neither does kiyeon.

 

as much as seungmin is disappointed, he remains positive and happy for the other kids, teaching them their first salchow, picking up shun when he falls, encouraging yihua to try a double rotation since she had landed her one rotation so easily.

 

he laughs when hyunjin shows up out of the blue and the kids all scream and cheer and chatter excitedly amongst themselves.

 

“you’re stealing their attention, baby.” seungmin pouts. “i can’t teach like this.”

“how about you steal it back by doing a jump over there?” hyunjin snickers, and points to an open space.

 

yihua perks up. “will you do your quad axel, mr. kim? i really wanna see it in person!”

 

“yeah, me too!” jinhwan calls out after her.

“i’ve only seen it on tv,” shun hums, looking up at hyunjin then at seungmin.

 

hyunjin kisses seungmin on the cheek, swivels him around on the ice and shoves him towards the empty space.

 

“gotta give the kiddos what they want, babe!” hyunjin calls, chuckles when he hears seohee cooing at the pet name.

 

seungmin sighs, refrains from giving his husband the middle finger, as he pushes off with the toe pick on his left skate.

  
  
  
  


he lands it easily. everyone in the rink cheers for him.

  
  
  
  


jaeyoung and kiyeon don’t come on thursday, either.

 

seungmin brushes it off like it doesn’t bother him. neither jaeyoung nor kiyeon have missed two practice sessions in a row, not even when they weren’t feeling well or even when they were swamped with exams and assignments.

 

yihua lands her first quad. a salchow.

 

jinhwan perfects his death drop.

 

shun perfectly executes a half-biellmann spin.

 

minah finishes a beginner version of hyunjin’s famous short program.

 

hyunjae lands his first triple flip.

 

seungmin jumps and cheers and congratulates them all because his hard work has paid off. woojin elbows him, teases him with ‘coach kim’ every five minutes.

  
  
  
  


the clock hits three, and woojin calls for them all to wrap up.

 

“i’m so upset, kiyeon wasn’t here to see my quad.” yihua pouts as seungmin sits down with her while the other younger kids hurry to get their skates off as their parents wait for them.

 

“you like kiyeon, don’t you?” seungmin asks, a knowing smile on his face. yihua flushes a bright red, looks down at the floor.

“yeah, maybe. i guess.”

“i’m sure he’ll come back. jaeyoung too.”

“you really like jaeyoung,” yihua points out, looking up at seungmin.

“he’s just so quiet and well behaved. reminds me of myself when i was in middle school.”

“yeah, but you were a figure skating _star_  in middle school. i remember being only a little girl and watching your short program at the olympics and telling my mom that i wanted to be _exactly_  like you when i grew up.”

 

seungmin breathes out a laugh, his heart swelling. he fiddles with the gold band on his ring finger, as yihua leans down to untie the laces of her skates.

 

“maybe you will be one day. i hear that some trainers are looking for their next generation of figure skating sensations.”

“you think so? i don’t think i’ll ever make it.”

“you will. i believe in you.”  


seungmin gives her a cheery smile, before getting up and stepping back up onto the rink.

  
  
  
  


hyunjin comes home with sore feet and a stiff neck to a pouty seungmin lounging on their couch in a pair of hyunjin’s sweats and an oversized hoodie.

 

“i’m back, baby boy,” hyunjin calls, yawning and stretching as he carefully places his skates down next to seungmin’s, black blades complimenting gold ones nicely.

 

“hi.” seungmin rolls over onto his back, holding his arms out, his phone in one hand, open on a youtube video. “missed you.”

“missed you too.”

 

seungmin lets hyunjin slip onto the couch next to him, wrapping his arms around the older’s waist and pressing a kiss to his jawline.

 

hyunjin smells like chamomile tea and the earth after rain; a comforting, familiar smell seungmin’s gotten used to over the years.

 

“you’re upset, what is it?” hyunjin mumbles, looking down at seungmin. seungmin huffs and pouts.

“jaeyoung and kiyeon haven’t showed up for four classes straight.”

“and you miss them?”

“i’m worried about them.”

“i can look into it if you’d like. you and jisung have training tomorrow with jinyoung, right?”

“yeah,” seungmin mumbles, fiddling with the material of hyunjin’s jacket, pressing his lips against the blotchy purplish-red mark on the older’s collarbone.

 

hyunjin nods, and yawns. seungmin giggles.

 

“tired?”

“incredibly.”

  
  
  
  


“seungmin, free leg straighter, incorrect edge on landing!”

 

jisung pants, hanging his head between his knees as jinyoung shouts out at seungmin, not quite harsh, not quite soft. his legs ache with a burning pain and his hands are shaking violently as he reaches for his water bottle.

 

“babe, you good?”

 

jisung looks up, meeting the eyes of minho, and he smiles as he leans back to see him properly.

 

“i’m fucking sore. everywhere.”

“poor baby.” minho laughs breathily, running deft fingers through jisung’s hair. “have you finished training?”

“yeah. seungmin has to finish up this routine and then we’re done for today.”

 

minho hums, still running his fingers through jisung’s hair.

 

“good, seungmin. touch up on that jump and you’ll be set for the grand prix.”

 

seungmin groans, stretching his arms over his head and stepping off of the rink, his chest heaving.

 

“you look like satan just roasted you alive.” jisung clicks his tongue.

“least i wasn’t born with it like you were,” seungmin retaliates, pulling his guards on and picking up his water bottle from on top of the rink wall.

“oh, now that’s tea bitch.” minho laughs. jisung shoves him with hands on his waist.

 

seungmin snorts, seating himself down next to jisung.

 

“y’all seen jeongin? i think he’s got a crush on one of the guys on his hockey team,” jisung says all of a sudden, and seungmin chokes on his water.

“jeongin, my _baby_?”

“i think his name’s daehyun. i dunno, jeongin seems to like him.”

“now  _this_ is tea,” minho chuckles, looking at his phone for a moment as jinyoung strides over.

 

seungmin looks down at his phone when it rings, the words ‘baby boy’ flashing up on screen.

  
“ew, gross,” jisung snorts.

“least i don’t have him saved as ‘beautiful baby angel cakes’ with four hearts.” seungmin punches him in the arm, hitting the pick up button and standing. “hi baby, what’s up?”

 

“you have me saved as that?” minho asks, mildly surprised.

“n-no? w-why would y-you think that?”

 

minho smiles fondly, kisses jisung square in the middle of his forehead. “cute.”

 

seungmin leans against the rink wall, away from the other three, and hums into the phone when hyunjin replies to him with a gentle ‘nothing much’.

 

“so, why are you calling me?” seungmin asks.

_“it’s about jaeyoung and kiyeon. i found out where they’ve been.”_

 

seungmin’s ears perk up.

 

“you found out? where?”

_“have you finished training?”_

“yeah.”

_“come home, baby boy. give me cuddles and i’ll tell you about what’s happening.”_

“you always want cuddles, babe. what do i get in return?”

_“i gave you that mad hickey on your ribca—”_

“okay! that’s enough. i’m in public. i’ll see you in ten.”

 

hyunjin giggles through the phone, infectious. _“bye, baby.”_

 

seungmin giggles back. “bye, love you.”

 

“okay, that’s the most tea i’ve heard all day. hyunjin gave you a hick—”

 

seungmin turns and punches jisung in the stomach so hard the boy doubles over. “sh-shut up!”

  
  
  
  


the keys jingle in seungmin’s hand when he pulls them out to unlock the front door. the muffled noise of prince and theodore barking has him smiling as he bumps the door open with his hip, the smell of vanilla and cinnamon wafting through the house as he shuts the door and toes his shoes off. when he turns around to make his way to the living room, hyunjin is already poking his head out, smiling at him.

 

“hi, baby.” he smiles, and seungmin smiles back, leans up on his tippy toes to press a kiss to the older’s jaw.

“hi.”

 

hyunjin watches as he sets his skates down and pulls his jacket off, leaving only his training shirt underneath.

 

“thin bitch,” hyunjin mumbles, as he sits down and lets seungmin crawl onto his lap. “you needa eat more, babe.”

“hmm, jinyoung put me on a diet.” seungmin nuzzles into hyunjin’s neck, breathing in his scent. “anyways, what did you find out about jaeyoung and kiyeon?”

 

hyunjin sits there in silence for a couple of seconds, but to seungmin it feels like hours, _days_  even. his fingers card through seungmin’s newly toned silver hair, scratching at his scalp in places he knows seungmin loves.

 

seungmin leans further into his neck, pressing a small kiss to the delicate skin there. “please tell me?”

 

hyunjin leaves a small peck on seungmin’s temple.

 

“…their parents left them up for adoption since they couldn’t afford to look after the two of them.”

 

and seungmin’s heart stops.

 

he lifts his head up from hyunjin’s shoulder, pretty brown eyes wide, mouth hanging open in a little ‘oh’. hyunjin nods, fingers holding his husband’s waist gently.

 

“are they really?” he asks softly, voice wavering gently in the silent air.

“yeah,” hyunjin breathes, “i asked for their parents’ info from nayeon and i contacted them. they said that they could barely afford to feed themselves let alone have kiyeon and jaeyoung attend skating lessons, so they put them up for adoption so that they’d have a better chance of achieving their dreams.”

 

seungmin frowns, fiddling with the material of hyunjin’s jacket and blinking down at his lap.

 

so _that's_  why they haven’t been showing up to lessons. seungmin clutches hyunjin’s jacket tighter between his fingers.

 

“don’t cry.” hyunjin smiles a little, pulling seungmin to his chest and running his fingers through his hair in comforting motions as the younger sniffs, a quiet hiccup leaving his throat as hyunjin pulls him closer.

 

“but that’s so _sad_ ,” seungmin whispers, leaning back to wipe at his eyes, and hyunjin presses a gentle kiss against his jawline.

“i know, but it was for their own good.”

 

hyunjin wipes away seungmin’s tears, sacrificing the cuff of his jacket to wipe away his snot. seungmin lets him, his own arms far too tired and sore to reach up to wipe away his tears. more tears sting behind his eyes at the thought of jaeyoung not being able to achieve his dream, and the same goes for kiyeon. they were both bright boys; they landed almost all of their jumps, perfected almost all of their spins, they always listened to seungmin with careful ears and took care of the others when they were the ones to fall.

 

seungmin gently sobs into hyunjin’s shoulder. hyunjin comforts him with gentle hands rubbing his back and hushed words.

  
  
  
  


seungmin’s eyes flutter open slowly, streams of sunset bleeding across his face as he shifts on the couch, cuddling into the warmth that he knows is hyunjin’s chest.

 

“seungmin, babe, you awake?” he hears him ask, soft, gentle, and seungmin groans into his chest.

“yeah,” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes as hyunjin shifts to get more comfortable. “how long was i asleep?”

“about three hours? i was watching bob ross while you slept.”

“sorry, you’re probably uncomfortable,” seungmin apologises softly, shifting until hyunjin’s arms trap him in.

 

“i’m good. never uncomfy when you’re here.”

 

“gross.”

 

“you married me.”

 

“you were the one that made that stupid bet that we’d get engaged if i won two olympics.”

 

“it was gonna happen anyways.”

 

seungmin sighs, and leans into hyunjin’s touch when the older pets his hair.

  
  
  
  


“seungmin, you’re distracted, focus!” jinyoung calls, as seungmin leans back into his ina bauer, gliding along the ice to the melody of the song playing.

 

his ankles throb in the confines of his skates, as he moves into his last step sequence, feet light and arms swaying beside him as the beat of the song speeds up a bit.

 

“babe, is seung okay?” minho whispers to jisung as the boy lifts his leg to rest on top of the rink wall, stretching it out.

“why?” he asks back, as seungmin flies past them, propelling himself into his quad flip, triple axel combination.

“he looks super stressed and tired. has he been sleeping well?”

“shouldn’t you be asking hyunjin that? he’s married to him.”

“yeah, well, hyunjin’s not here, so—” minho shrugs.

 

another scrape of blades against the ice catches their attention, as seungmin stops in the centre of the rink, his breathing heavy and loud. his short program runthrough is over.

 

“good, seungmin. jisung, you’re up. minho, play his music, please.”

 

“yes, jinyoung!”

 

seungmin is midway through adjusting his skates when minho strides over, seating himself down next to him.

 

“you seem off. what is it?” he asks, and seungmin hums in question before he repeats himself.

“i don’t know,” seungmin breathes out, “stuff, i guess.”

“you haven’t looked this depressed since you fought with hyunjin at the gpf when you were sixteen, so what the fuck is up?”

 

seungmin shudders at the memory, but pushes it to the back of his mind.

 

“it’s nothing much. not that important.”

 

minho is quiet for a bit, eyes trained on jisung gracefully moving through his rehearsal for his free, so unlike the young skater he was before the olympics, before he speaks up again.

 

“it’s about jaeyoung and kiyeon, isn’t it?”

 

and seungmin freezes, his fingers halting their movements of tying his laces back up. minho clicks his tongue.

 

“bingo. what’s up?”

“ugh, it’s—”

 

jisung lands his quad sal, seamlessly transitioning into his spin combination, his body balancing on one leg as he enters his camel spin, before his legs bend down into an effortlessly graceful sit spin, arm outstretched towards the ceiling.

 

“it’s complicated. i need to talk to hyunjin about it.”

“are you gonna be okay with the middle schoolers on thursday?”

“i might take the day off. i need some rest. grand prix is coming up soon; i can’t let hyunjin win against me again.” he laughs.

“that’s fine.” minho chuckles back.

 

seungmin breathes out a laugh through his nose, fiddling with the gold band on his left finger, pulling it off and staring at the inside of the ring.

 

_hwang-kim hyunjin — 19/06/27._

 

jisung throws his head back, lifts an arm into the air, one leg crossed in front of the other and his right hand resting over his heart.

 

seungmin smiles fondly at him.

  
  
  
  


seungmin almost throws his medical textbook out of the window in surprise when hyunjin hastily opens the door to their office space. he breathes out a hefty sigh, shoulders sagging as hyunjin sets down a bowl of soup on his desk next to a glass of water.

 

“i can’t tell whether that was a sigh of ‘oh my god get the fuck out of here’, or one of ‘oh my god i’m overthinking things again.”

“it’s both, but more so the latter.” he watches as hyunjin drags over his own office chair, sitting down next to him.

“it’s jae and ki, isn’t it?” hyunjin asks, his voice soft, and seungmin nods, leaning back, pulling his soup into his lap and stirring it with his spoon.

“i really wanna see them again,” he mumbles, spooning his soup into his mouth.

“why don’t we? you’re basically their dad.”

 

seungmin hums, then he looks up at hyunjin; the older boy is leaning his cheek on his knuckles, legs crossed on his seat.

 

“i have an idea,” seungmin hums, and hyunjin straightens up, raises an eyebrow at him. “but you need to be one hundred percent on it otherwise we can’t do it.”

“what is it?”

 

and seungmin lets a shy smile flit across his lips.

  
  
  
  


chan watches hyunjin with a hawk-like gaze, the younger male running through his short program with gentle strokes of his arms and precise movements of his legs as he moves to the music echoing through the empty rink. woojin leans against the rink wall, fiddling with the cuffs of chan’s jacket and playing with his fingers, interlacing them, bending them this way and that.

 

“good, hyunjin, good,” he calls as hyunjin flies into his death drop, skates shaving off ice as he crouches into a perfect sit spin.

 

“hyunjin seems more stressed these days, doesn’t he?” woojin mumbles. chan nods.

“there must be something on his mind. seungmin hasn’t been on top of his game, either.”

 

the music stops, hyunjin drops to his knees, one arm tucked behind his back, the other thrown over his eyes, chest rising and falling in rapid succession with his panting.

 

“alright. you can finish there, hyunjin. go get changed.”

“yes, coach.” hyunjin pants, pushing sweat slicked bangs out of his face as he steadily skates to the edge of the rink.

 

chan smiles gently at hyunjin as the tall boy slides his guards on, picking up his duffel bag and heading towards the locker room.

 

“i think he’s stressed because seungmin’s stressed,” woojin says once the door closes behind hyunjin.

“and why’s seungmin stressed?” chan questions, leaning against his husband’s shoulder.

“i have a feeling, but i don’t know.”

“tell me.”

 

woojin glances at the locker room door, leaning his back against the rink wall, elbows up on top of it.

 

“there are two specific kids in mine and minho’s skating class, jaeyoung and kiyeon, and they were seungmin’s absolute favourite kids to work with. they figured out jumps quicker than the others, and they were well behaved. but they haven’t been showing up to classes because their parents couldn’t afford to look after them, so they left them up for adoption.”

 

chan breathes out in realisation. “oh.”

 

woojin nods. “yeah.”

 

 _thinkin’ bout you_ starts playing in the empty rink, ringing in momo’s absence; her ice show is in two weeks.

  
  
  
  


the faint sound of children chattering and laughing echoes in the reception room.

 

seungmin pulls his scarf tighter around his neck; it’s an expensive, blue, handmade one with gold trim he received as a gift from his mother for his thirteenth birthday.

 

his vans squeak against the tiled flooring as he spins to check that hyunjin is behind him. the taller male lets the front door fall shut behind him, the cold air outside shut out to leave them in the comfort of warm air that settles upon sore shoulders and tired bodies. seungmin smiles up at him; hyunjin squeezes his waist.

 

“oh gosh, _kim seungmin_ and _hwang hyunjin?_ ” the girl running front desk gasps, her hands shooting over her mouth as seungmin pulls his face mask down from his face and hyunjin pulls his cap off.

“yes, that’s us.” seungmin smiles. “how are you?”

“i-i’m good! uhm, how can i help you today?” her blue eyes are sparkling, eyelids stained with pretty golden eyeshadow that twinkles in the sunlight.

“i was actually wondering if you guys had two kids we were looking for in specific?” hyunjin speaks up, and the girl turns her attention to him.

“of course, do you know their names?”

“choi jaeyoung and choi kiyeon.”

 

she taps around on her laptop, perfectly painted white nails bright against the black of the keyboard. a crescendo in a free skate.

 

then, like a song’s climax,

 

“yes, we have them! would you like to see them?”

 

seungmin breathes a sigh of relief, resting his hand over his heart, and hyunjin smiles down at him, eyes crinkling up prettily.

 

“yes, please.”

  


hyunjin intertwines their fingers as they walk briskly down to the end of the short corridor, swinging their arms back and forth dramatically like they used to when they first started dating. seungmin snorts quietly to himself, watching hyunjin skipping around behind the employee, letting him let go of his hand in favour of taking delicate steps on the balls of his feet, almost as graceful as on ice. seungmin smiles tiredly at him when he jumps into a triple (well, it was more like a double and a half), and he grabs at hyunjin’s jacket before the older gets too carried away.

 

“what kind of triple was that?” seungmin laughs, sees the girl looking over her shoulder at them with a smile from the corner of his eye.

“i’d say that was an axel, don’t you think?”

“i’m sure that was a back inside edge, don’t lie to me.”

 

they laugh, and stop in front of the door separating them from a bunch of rowdy kids.

 

“wait here for a moment,” the girl says, a smile on her face, as she opens the door and slips in.

  


seungmin chews at his nails — a habit of his that never died out — and taps his foot against the floor, checking his phone for the time.

 

2:12pm.

 

then,

 

“mr. kim!”

 

both seungmin and hyunjin snap their heads up, and standing there, head to toe in comfy hoodies and sweats, are jaeyoung and kiyeon, their eyes wide as they look between the two of them.

 

“hyunjin is here, too?” kiyeon asks, and hyunjin smiles at them.

“mr. kim—”

“seungmin is just fine, kiddo.” seungmin kneels down, letting jaeyoung pad over to him.

“ _seungmin_ , why are you here?” jaeyoung tries again, and kiyeon nods from behind him.

 

seungmin stands, and the girl from earlier slips back out of the room, shutting the door behind her and smiling at them, leaving them with an, ‘i’ll be out the front if you need anything’.

 

“is this why you haven’t been coming to classes?” seungmin asks, looking down between the boys as they flush red and look to their feet.

“y-yeah,” kiyeon says, eventually, “it’s kind of embarrassing, to be honest.”

“why is it embarrassing?” hyunjin asks, resting his hand on kiyeon’s shoulder.

“because all the other kids have parents that can actually afford to keep their kids…” kiyeon mumbles, and seungmin bends over slightly to look at the two of them at eye level.

 

“that doesn’t make it embarrassing, y’know. anyways, that isn’t what we came here for.” seungmin stands. hyunjin laughs through his nose, shoulders rising and falling as the two boys look between them.

 

“what?” jaeyoung questions. “what do you mean?”

 

“we’re going to take you guys to your home. so you can skate as much as you like, whenever you like.” hyunjin ruffles their hair, and pushes them each with a palm on the smalls of their backs.

 

“wh-what?” both of them say in unison.

 

seungmin giggles.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“overall score of 326.43. seungmin kim is now in first place.”

 

adrenaline rushes through his veins, as he jumps from his seat in the kiss and cry and cheers, fist thrown into the air in victory. the feeling of a win hasn’t changed in the slightest, the excitement and the relief and the pain suffered to get to the top still rushing through him as he stares at the numbers displayed on the screen in front of him. jinyoung applauds him from behind him, as he looks to the crowd, all screaming and cheering and holding up banners with his name on it. he pulls at the material of his top, the feathers lining pale blue ruffling as he fixes them up.

 

“well done, seung.” jinyoung smiles, still applauding him as he drapes the blonde’s team jacket over his shoulders. “let’s go backstage. you have your press conferences and then the awards ceremony.”

 

seungmin’s still got a big, dazzling smile on his face.

  


“seungmin! you’re a legend!” momo cries, tackling him into a hug, her arms wrapping around his neck and legs swinging into the air, her guards clacking loudly against the floor when she drops her feet back down.

 

“thanks.” he laughs, patting her on the back and letting her go.

 

“you did so well, seungmin!” sana strides up to them, a smile on her face and the long skirt of her dress flowing behind her as she moves to stand next to momo.

“thank you. momo did well, too.”

 

they look at each other and smile, giggling.

 

he’s pulled off to the side by a reporter, and he’s asked enough questions to be out of breath by the end of it. the screen backstage flashes up with their scores, and seungmin smiles.

 

_**1st —** seungmin kim [korea] ; 326.43 _

_**2nd —** hyunjin hwang [korea] ; 322.17 _

_**3rd —** jisung han [korea] ; 319.23 _

_**4th —** haruki takahashi [japan] ; 289.05 _

_**5th —** mark lee [canada] ; 288.57 _

_**6th —** eric sohn [usa] ; 285.32 _

 

seungmin startles and jumps, an almost pathetic yelp leaving his tinted red lips when someone pulls him back by the material of his team jacket.

 

“do you know where dad is?”

 

he turns on his heels, hands automatically raising to hold jaeyoung’s upper arms. he blinks down at him for a moment, before releasing a breath and pulling the boy to his chest.

 

“he’s doing a press conference, i think. where’s your brother?”

“talking to momo and sana. they sound like over excited grandparents on christmas.”

 

seungmin laughs, ruffles his hair.

 

“sure, kiddo.”

  
  
  
  


_“figure skating sensations seungmin kim, hyunjin hwang and jisung han have claimed their spots at the top of the leaderboard once again! they are truly skating icons.”_

  
  
  
  


seungmin adjusts his mask over his eyes, his red hair pushed out of his face as he pokes his head out from behind the wall to see jaeyoung and kiyeon on the ice.

 

kiyeon lands a flawless triple flip, jaeyoung follows it with a perfectly executed quad toe.

 

he startles a bit when there are arms around his waist, a squeak leaving his throat.

 

“look at them,” he hears hyunjin mumble into his ear, and he smiles. “living their best dream.”

“momo’s so sweet; she was the one who let them perform with us.”

“yeah, well, it’s her ice show. she’s allowed to do what she wants. she seems to like jae and ki enough to let them on.”

“she’s like their over excited grandmother at christmas, according to jae.”

 

hyunjin snorts into his shoulder, kissing the exposed skin of the side of his neck and fixing up his own mask, the blue jewelled headpiece sparkling under the strobing lights.

 

jaeyoung and kiyeon death drop into their sit spins at the exact same time, a cue for hyunjin and seungmin to join them.

 

“let’s go, babe.”

 

hyunjin presses a kiss to seungmin’s lips, chaste and short and sweet and _everything_  seungmin has ever wanted in a kiss, before he pushes himself out into the spotlight, sending the crowd into a panicked frenzy. his jewelled blue robes resemble royalty, as he turns back towards seungmin and reaches his hand out, bowing his head, getting onto one knee.

 

seungmin’s heart flutters. just a bit.

 

momo had said to them that the overall theme of the ice show is something akin to a masquerade ball, with shining lights and slow music and diamond embedded masks that sparkle and reflect pink and blue under said lights.

 

he adjusts his mask as he skates out into the light, greeted with screaming and gasps and loud applause as he takes hyunjin’s hand in his, curtseying, their matching rings glimmering gold under the spotlight as hyunjin straightens up.

 

the music is slow, regal, and it fits perfectly with the choreography chan and minho made for them in collaboration.

 

and when seungmin watches hyunjin bend perfectly into his ina bauer, everything else seems to fall away. the pressure of executing every spin, every step, every jump perfectly, the music echoing in the rink, the attention of thousands of fans watching their every single move. it all falls away because the only thing that matters to seungmin on the ice, right here, right now,

 

is hyunjin.

 

they mirror each other’s moves, easing into a step sequence that’s perfectly in sync, feet taking them through a routine of simple one rotation toe jumps and slightly more complex spins, the two of them bending down into an a spin.

 

hyunjin’s biellmann spin isn’t as beautifully formed as it used to be, his hip injury from a couple years back preventing him from bending any further than into half of one. seungmin, though, pulls his leg up high above his head, gloved fingers tucking between the polished gold of his blades and the pristine white sole of the boot, until his upper body and his leg make a perfect tear shape. the crowd goes into an uproar, their eyes following the slim line of seungmin’s body as he sets his leg back down to move into their second step sequence, their jump combinations.

 

a perfectly timed quad toe.

 

hyunjin’s triple axel, single euler, quadruple salchow combination.

 

seungmin’s quadruple flip, triple axel combination.

 

their perfect sit spins, arms extended into the air, fingers pointed daintily.

 

seungmin stands from his sit spin, legs aching under him, but that doesn’t matter to him any longer. hyunjin meets him in the middle of the rink as the crescendo of the song rises, rises, rises into its peak, the string quartet echoing in the rink loudly, even more violently.

 

and from there the song can only get louder, the pair of them skating in time with each other, seungmin’s custom white and gold skates complimenting hyunjin’s full black ones. their moves get more frantic, but the grace never leaves, the familiar flow of their own skating styles stays with them even as hyunjin grabs his waist from behind and mumbles under his breath. seungmin laughs.

 

“are you ready?”

“never been more ready.”

 

and just like that, seungmin feels hyunjin bending his legs behind him and suddenly he’s being thrown into the air, into the quadruple lutz that they had practiced for months on end to get _just right_.

 

seungmin lands it a little awkwardly, his fingertips grazing the ice to keep his balance, but he lands it nonetheless, and the crowd screams for him as he trails ahead of hyunjin, building up speed until he’s basically flying across the ice, and hyunjin trails along, footsteps delicate and mirroring his own.

 

then, seungmin switches his footing, gliding backwards. he sees hyunjin looking at him with a huge smile tugging at his lips, pulling them up as seungmin switches the direction of his body again and, tilting his body onto the outside edge of the blade, he throws his right leg forward into his quad axel.

 

he lands it perfectly with air to spare, his free leg hoisted high behind him as the crowd continues to cheer for them.

 

he fixes his mask, moving into the very last sequence of delicate steps before hyunjin grabs his wrist and he grabs hyunjin’s, the two of them spinning around each other until hyunjin slowly lowers himself towards the floor, and seungmin lets his right leg leave the ice, crossing it over his left as they easily execute their death spiral, something seungmin has _always_  wanted to do with someone ever since he was a little boy.

 

they end with one hand interlaced the other’s above their shoulders, and hyunjin’s hand holding seungmin’s waist, the younger’s head thrown back.

 

the crowd goes insane, freaking out and gifts are thrown for them even though this is momo’s ice show and momo should be getting all of the attention.

 

seungmin lifts his head to look hyunjin in the eye, and they stand there for a moment, in the spotlight, chests rising and falling in tandem as easy smiles stretch across their faces.

 

hyunjin’s eyeliner is smudged at the edges — or, well, seungmin  _thinks_  it is, his mask is kinda covering them — the dark brown and glimmering gold eyeshadow lining his eyes complimenting his newly dyed pastel blue hair.

 

“we did it.” hyunjin smiles, pressing his lips to seungmin’s and sending the crowd into a flurry of white flashes and girls screeching.

 

“yeah, we did.”

  
  
  
  


momo screams when they come backstage, masks off and fingers intertwined. she tackles the two of them in a tight group hug, her own mask slipping down from the top of her head as she wraps her arms around their necks.

 

“aah, you two did so well!” she squeals, clapping her hands and pressing a friendly kiss to each of their jaws. “ugh, sana would never kiss me out there like that!”

“yes, i would!” sana retaliates from behind her, striding up to them and pouting at her girlfriend.

“no, you wouldn’t!”

 

seungmin laughs. they all join him.

 

momo stops and turns, lighting up at something behind hyunjin, her eyes sparkling behind blue contacts.

 

“go say hi to your kids, i’ve got a masquerade ball to attend.” momo gleams, pulling her mask down over her eyes, winking at them before turning on her skates to follow behind her manager.

 

hyunjin turns back to the direction momo was looking, before snorting and laughing.

 

“don’t laugh at me, mr hwang hyunjin!” chan calls, almost tripping over his feet as jaeyoung pats his head from his perch on his shoulders and kiyeon tugs at his hand.

 

“hello, sweetheart.” seungmin smiles, helping jaeyoung off of chan’s shoulders.

“hi,” he replies, holding onto seungmin’s jacket as kiyeon moves to hyunjin’s side.

 

chan sighs, fixing his hair, before looking up at the four of them.

 

“coach, you’re like their uncle.” hyunjin laughs.

“yes, i suppose so.”

“momo and sana are the over excited grandmothers,” jaeyoung says, and he giggles at the offended gasp sana lets out as she joins the conversation.

 

they talk for a bit more, until momo comes backstage again, her face flushed a pleasant shade of red and her smile reaching ear to ear. sana presses a kiss to her cheek, squealing and congratulating her.

 

“hey, hyunjin, can i talk to you for a sec? alone?” momo asks then, and hyunjin nods.

“sure. kiyeon, stay with dad and jaeyoung.”

“okay.”

  
  
  
  


they end up in an empty spectator’s booth above the crowd, watching out over the rink as renjun moves through his program. she invited all skaters to join if they’d liked to.

 

“so, what did you want to talk about?” hyunjin asks, sitting in one of the chairs.

“i don’t know. stuff. we haven’t had time to properly catch up yet.”

“i guess not. i’ve had training, you have a girlfriend, seungmin has online medical classes on the days when he’s not training so i have to help him through that, _and_ we’ve mystically got two kids now. it’s a mess.”

 

“did you ever think that you’d marry seungmin?” she asks all of a sudden.

 

hyunjin gasps dramatically and throws himself into the back of the chair.

 

“i didn’t even think that he would _date_ me.”

 

momo laughs sweetly, looks at him with affection sparkling in her eyes.

 

“you’re going to be great parents to jae and ki.”

“you think so?”

“yeah. definitely. they love you two, _and_  they’re training to be figure skaters, so why not follow in their fathers’ footsteps?”

 

hyunjin smiles, lets out a soft laugh.

 

“i love him,” he mumbles, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, observing the ring on his finger.

“i know you do. i do, too. so does sana, and chan and renjun, woojin and jisung especially. we all love seungmin.”

 

hyunjin hums in response, sliding the ring on his finger off to stare at the lettering engraved onto the inside of it.

 

_hwang-kim seungmin — 19/06/27._

 

he smiles to himself, and slides it back on.

 

“i want to propose to sana, you know?”

“you do?”

“yeah. but i don’t know where, or when, or if i’m going to be able to keep up with everything.”

“i mean i proposed to seungmin on our vacation to laos. at the kuang si waterfalls.”

 

momo gasps. “it’s so pretty there.”

 

“yep.”

 

momo gently pads over and hugs hyunjin’s head to her chest, leaning her head onto the crown of his.

 

“seungmin’s so incredibly lucky to have you, you know?”

“you’re asking a lot of ‘you know’ questions.”

“it’s in my nature. but i’m not lying. he really deserves everything and you’ve been doing just that for him.”

 

he smiles.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


seungmin squeaks, pulling against hyunjin’s hands to stop himself from falling into the water.

 

“baby, it’s cold!” he protests weakly, still pulling against his boyfriend’s hands.

“yeah, and it’s _blazing_  hot outside right now. please?”

 

seungmin can’t deny that it _is_  hot, but he pouts down at hyunjin before dipping his foot into the water.

 

“there.” he winces. it’s ironic how he doesn’t handle cold well but he’s a figure skater. “is that good enough?”

 

hyunjin smirks smugly up at him, before grabbing him by the backs of his thighs.

 

“nope.”

 

seungmin lets out a very unmanly shriek when hyunjin pulls him down into the water with him, trying his best to glare at the raven haired male underwater before resurfacing and taking in a huge gulp of air.

 

“i fucking hate you,” he whines, as hyunjin resurfaces and pushes his hair out of his face, pulling seungmin closer by the waist and resting his chin on his shoulder, laughing.

 

“i love you so much.” hyunjin presses a kiss to his exposed shoulder blade, and lets him go, splashing him with more cold water.

 

“hwang hyunjin, i will drown you in that damn waterfall.”

 

and hyunjin only smiles at him, hoisting himself up on a ledge and beckoning seungmin over. he intertwines their fingers and runs the fingers of his free hand through seungmin’s drenched violet hair, watching him trying to blow out the water in his nose.

 

“well, then that’d ruin my plans. if you drown me, how am i supposed to ask you to marry me?”

 

seungmin pauses for a moment, the retort dying in his throat as he looks up at hyunjin with wide eyes and a mouth hanging open in a mix of shock and surprise.

 

“wh-what?”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“jaeyoung did it! he won!” kiyeon cries, tugging at hyunjin and seungmin’s sleeves and pointing at the screen in front of them.

 

_**1st —** jaeyoung hwang-kim [korea] ; 230.55 _

_**2nd —** julien bang [canada] ; 228.63 _

_**3rd —** kiyeon hwang-kim [korea] ; 226.05 _

 

hyunjin smiles down at him. “you’re not upset that you placed third?”

 

“nah, not really. as long as one of us places first, i’ll be satisfied!”

“oh my god, if i placed third and hyunjin placed first i would have thrown a chair out of a window,” seungmin says, and hyunjin snorts.

 

“hey, kiyeon.”

 

kiyeon turns around, brown hair flopping into his eyes as he moves to meet the eyes of julien, the second place getter.

 

“good job on medalling. you and jaeyoung did really well.” he cracks a tiny smile at kiyeon, and kiyeon smiles back, much brighter.

 

“thank you, you did really well today, too.”

 

they shake hands, and exchange a hug.

 

“juli, there you are.”

 

hyunjin glances up and chan is there, running pale fingers through julien’s midnight hair and hyunjin smiles, just a bit.

 

“stop calling me ‘juli’ in public, dad. it’s embarrassing!”

“ _oohh_ , my precious little _juli_  is a shy one, isn’t he? if only woojin were here to tease you, too.”

“ _dad!_ ”

 

seungmin laughs, a bright sound that catches the attention of people walking past, and turns just in time to see jaeyoung basically skip backstage with his coach, a bright smile on his face. he’s showered in attention, other skaters congratulating him and wishing him luck for the finals and other coaches giving him pats on the back.

 

seungmin pulls him into a hug, pressing a kiss to the crown of his head.

 

“you did so well, bud. i’m proud of you.” he smiles, squishing the boy’s cheeks.

“thanks, pa. it was all because of you that i got to medal today!”

“not _really_.”

“yeah! you gave ki and i a home and a safe space to practice. you found us a great coach and you let us train in the rink back home with you and dad. even ki got to medal today! isn’t that exciting?”

 

seungmin breathes a laugh out through his nose.

 

“yeah, that’s pretty fucking spectacular.”

  


seungmin and hyunjin encourage both kiyeon and jaeyoung through their first few press conferences, wide smiles on their faces. jisung and minho join them later on, jisung punching seungmin in the arm in greeting like they always used to and seungmin flipping him off. hyunjin laughs from beside them.

 

“hey! mr. kim!”

 

seungmin turns around, and there’s yihua, her skirt flowing behind her as she jogs up to him with a letter in hand.

 

“oh, yihua!” he blinks. “i didn’t think i’d see you here.”

“yeah, but i really needed to give this to kiyeon but i can’t find him.”

“oh, he’s doing a press conference right now, but i can be a messenger.”

 

she lights up. “really?”

 

“of course.”

“well—” she gets shy all of a sudden, before looking around and passing him the letter in her hand. “—give this to him, please?”

“sure. what’s on it?” he asks, teasing.

 

“u-uhm!” she flushes red, and seungmin chuckles, petting her hair down.

 

“don’t worry about it kiddo. i’ll get it to him safely.”

 

she thanks him and bows, before taking her leave.

 

hyunjin strides up to him, sipping at his bottle of water as he straightens himself back up. “what’s that?”

 

“yihua gave it to me to give to kiyeon.”

 

and hyunjin smiles, pulling seungmin into a hug and kissing his temple, then his cheek, then his nose, and finally his lips.

 

“i smell a young romance blooming.”

 

and seungmin snorts, cackles.

 

“as if _we_  aren’t young,” he says.

 

“i’m almost 25, baby boy,” hyunjin replies.

 

“least you aren’t 30.”

 

“true.”

 

they laugh together, fingers intertwining, and as seungmin looks up into hyunjin’s eyes, his heart flutters at the glimmering pools of brown that look back down at him.

 

they’re identical to the ones he fell in love with.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


seungmin will eventually learn that the letter is a confession that kiyeon will eventually accept.

 

there is also a note tacked onto the end directly addressed to him.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_mr. kim,_

 

_thank you for believing in me. i’m training in los angeles with a coach who promises me big success for the women’s category._

 

_i’m forever indebted to you and hyunjin, for being such amazing public figures that many people look up to._

 

_thank you :)_

 

_— yihua ♡_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ mon, 10/12, 2:36am ]
> 
> happy belated birthday, yuzuru! thank you for being the inspiration for this fic :)
> 
> if you thought i was done with this au... you were wrong
> 
> anyways this is purely self indulgent and i only wrote this because euphoria hit 600 kudos!!!! i didnt ever think that this many people would like this au so much omg wowo
> 
> also, i've been contemplating making a sequel to euphoria! would you guys like that or no?
> 
> thank you for reading!!!! comments and kudos are appreciated!!!


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